


All the World Has Come to See the End

by jolybird



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death, Past Character Death, some zombie related gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-17 06:32:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 33,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4656258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jolybird/pseuds/jolybird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>About two weeks after the world goes to shit Merlin Stanton is tasked with finding Emrys, the grumpy old wizard who helped King Arthur unite Albion and who was Queen Guinevere's Court Sorcerer during the Golden Age Of Camelot.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It doesn't go exactly the way he thought it would. For starters, the legends got it really wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All the World Has Come to See the End

**Author's Note:**

> Written for  
> [After Camlann 2015](http://aftercamlann.livejournal.com/). Between fictionally tearing London apart to making poor Merlin be Arthur-levels of oblivious, I had /so/ much fun writing this. 
> 
> Huge thank yous to the ACBB mods for hosting this fest, lord knows I need the motivation to actually finish something!! And a super huge thank you to my incredible artist kitty_dagger ([AO3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/mewling_quim/pseuds/arthursglisteningpecs)) who not only made amazing artwork for this fic that you all serious need to check out [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4648932?view_adult=true) but also stepped in as a last minute beta and helped make the fic readable. <3
> 
> Hope you have as much fun reading this as it did writing it!

If you had been paying attention, you probably could have predicted when the apocalypse struck, down to the minute. It had more to do with a spell unravelling than any force of nature. It wasn’t a very old spell either. It was scarcely a hundred years old, a baby, really, in the grand scheme of things. There were older spells; in Turkey there were fragments of a pot that were blue when they should have been red, the result of a young woman who wanted to test out her powers. She didn’t expect anything of it, didn’t think it’d last more than a couple of hours. But it had lasted thousands of years and was still going strong.

 

But this one spell was the start:

On the northern coast of Wales, a few yards from the Penmon Priory, sat a willow tree. Although it was battered and bruised, it had survived nearly a hundred years against coastal storms and sea spray because of a spell an elderly man placed on it when it was still  a sapling. It might have lived for a hundred years more if not for the strain on the magic in the area.

 

Fear suppressed magic. Spells were cast on top of other spells in attempts to protect and hide. In Penmon, the local Morgan population hid themselves from the dangers of the ever-evolving human population. They placed spells to make their underwater gardens appear to be rocky seafloor, and they casted invisibility charms over their magnificent buildings of gold. The Morgans cursed themselves to appear as conger eels to the human eye.  Eventually the tension of spells upon spells was wound too tight and the web began to unravel.  

 

It began with the willow tree.

 

During a particularly stormy night the trunk split in half. In the morning, the ocean glittered with gold.

 

*

 

Merlin scrambled backwards, back into the cover of the trees. He was a colossal idiot; his mother had made him promise not to go out alone and what did he do? Shit, he just wanted to see if he could see how Hastings was fairing from the ridge. Thick black smoke had been billowing from the city for the better part of the day.  

 

The ground shook as a dark shadow fell upon the ground in front of him. He had an explanation for the smoke now and he really, really wished he didn’t.

 

A deep chuckle sounded and then, “There’s no need to be frightened of me. I’m not here to harm you.”

All he could picture were the smiling faces on the missing person flyers, the photos of dead things with massive claws and impossible teeth, the shaky vines of things that looked human but definitely weren’t. Yeah. The dragon totally wasn’t here to harm him.

 

“Merlin.” It continued and Merlin peeked out from behind his tree to stare at the dragon’s lower half. How the hell— “Merlin. I’ve been looking for you since I awoke—I can wait a long time for you to stop hiding.”

 

“How do you know my name?” Merlin called, figuring if he was trapped he might as well go out trying to understand what the hell was going on.

 

The dragon chuckled, “I’ve known you for far longer than you can comprehend. Now stop hiding. We’re past that. You’re the only one who can end this turmoil.” Merlin squinted his eyes in confusion and the dragon sighed as if it had seen.  “The world doesn’t have time for you to play games. You have a destiny to fulfil.”

 

He laughed despite himself and leaned back against the tree. Yeah. Of course a dragon would tell him he had a destiny. Like he was a knight in a fairy tale or a character in Dragon Age.  The dragon sighed wearily and then there was a soft clunk behind him. “This will lead you to the help you need.”

 

Tentatively, Merlin peered around the tree again and saw that a ring lay in the grass. Wary of the fact this was probably a trap, he cautiously left the safety of the tree and picked up the ring. A red beam shot out from it, lasting a foot or two before it faded out. The dragon bent down to look at him and Merlin scrambled back behind his tree. It wouldn’t protect him from dragon fire but at least it was something in between him and the beast.

 

“What kind of destiny do I have?” he called, knowing the answer was probably to be my lunch or something equally as ill-fated. He scanned the woods in front of him, trying to find the safest path away from here or at least someplace with more shelter.

 

“You must reunite a powerful warlock with his king.”

 

Merlin pursed his lips and tilted his head, okay, he wasn’t expecting something like that. It was more chauffeur or tour guide territory than a knight’s.  

“Can’t they just use Facebook?” he called, as he decided that he should head towards the left, where there was an overturned tree covered in moss and an outcropping of rocks. Rocks didn’t catch fire.  

 

The dragon huffed in annoyance.

“It’s your destiny. The fate of the world rests on your shoulders. The Once and Future King can only win if Emrys is at his side.”

 

“What? Like Queen Guinevere’s Emrys? Merlin glanced behind him to try to see if the dragon could see if he made a break for it.

 

“You must reunite them.”

 

“You want me to find Queen Guinevere.”

 

“You must find Emrys.”

 

“Does that mean the college student playing him in Disneyland?”

 

There was silence for a long moment and then when the dragon spoke next, his voice was nearly a growl. “You’re being purposefully obtuse. Find Emrys and reunite him with the Once and Future King or we’ll all be doomed.”  The dragon’s great wingspan blew up dirt as it launched into the air.

 

Merlin shielded his eyes as he watched it go through the leaves, conscious of the red beam pointing east at his side. He had just annoyed a dragon away. He was alive. The dragon had up and left. He wasn’t going to give any other mythical creature the chance to finish the job the dragon left undone, so to hell with Hastings, he was going back home.

 

His mother was on him the second he came within sight of his house.

“Merlin Stanton! Where in heaven’s name have you been? Do you know how dangerous it is out there?”

 

“I just—I was thinking.”

 

“Think someplace where you can’t disappear next time. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but did you see that video Jimmy you went to primary with posted on Facebook? He recorded it from his front door and he lives twenty minutes away. I’ve already told Will and Freya they can’t go out after dark.”

“Where are they?”

“Making supper. Go help them, love.”

 

Will had been his best mate since they were in diapers and when they went off to University they met Freya. Will had been infatuated with her immediately but it took Freya a while to return the feeling. Once they got together, however, they stuck. The three of them were only supposed to be visiting his parents for a couple of days before they went back to London and signed the lease on their new flat.

 

Their second night with Merlin’s parents—about two weeks ago now—Merlin lay in bed on his phone, unable to sleep. Will and Freya had fallen asleep ages ago on an old mattress on the floor next to him. He squinted at the trending headline At least a hundred feared dead after possible gas main explosion in Nottingham. With a frown he had clicked on it and the majority of the posts were of shapes seen in the smoke, strange shadows followed by more flames. There were people crying of foul play, of demons, of seeing weird things in the city in the hours preceding the tragedy. Eventually he stumbled upon a video that claimed there were multiple sharks in the Themes and when the shaky video showed that they moved all wrong for sharks (and Merlin was somewhat of an expert—Freya had been streaming Shark Week documentaries for the past two weeks) he had decided it was a bad photoshop job, turned his phone off and went to bed.

He awoke to Freya and Will arguing over mermaids a few hours later and that was his introduction to the apocalypse.

 

Now, mermaids and dragons thankfully behind him, Merlin walked into the kitchen to find Will and Freya letting dinner burn on the stove as they peered down at Will’s phone, faces grim.

 

“What’s happened now?” Merlin sighed. The past two weeks had been full of friends and acquaintances disappearing, their homes and jobs being destroyed, just a few days ago one of Freya’s professors was found washed ashore six miles out of London. The cause of death was officially an animal attack although no one could specify exactly what kind of animal it had been.

 

“Baljeet just posted a picture of a dragon. She—shit.” Will frowned down at his phone and Freya leaned away. “Internet went out.”

She hurried over to the stove and stirred the pot—curry with vegetables from his mother’s garden.

 

“Not just the internet. Everything went out. I don’t have service or 3G,” Will moaned. “This is it. This is how the world ends. All of us isolated, unable to share our last moments on snapchat.”

 

“Everything has a silver lining,” Merlin grumbled sarcastically and Will looked up from his phone to glare at him, but before he could say anything Freya swept in between them.

“I’m sure it’ll be back soon.” She walked to the front door and called out, “Dinner’s ready!”

 

Merlin’s parents both shouted responses back from the garden but Merlin couldn’t decipher them as he simultaneously tried to take bowls out of the cabinet and flip Will off as he tried to take a picture of him.  

Merlin and Freya set the table as Will continued to mess around on his phone. His parents came in just as Merlin was sitting down and Balinor plucked the phone out of Will’s hands. “I feel like you’re ten again, trying to play Gameboy at the table.”

 

“I’ll have you know that I just so happen to be documenting the apocalypse.”

 

“Please don’t call it that,” Hunith sighed as she slipped into the seat next to her son.

 

‘Apocalypse’ set Merlin on edge. Was the world ending around them? He couldn’t accept that they’d never to back to London, that they’d never share a too-small flat. Freya was going to become a marine biologist. She was going to discover a new species. He’d do anything to see the day—the days they’d all been working so hard for. Which brought him back to the dragon. It had said that he was the one who could fix all of this. He didn’t believe the dragon but he also couldn’t risk being wrong. He would never forgive himself if he just sat here and the world went to shit because of it. In the end, he really didn’t have a choice. It didn’t matter what he did or didn’t believe.

 

“Merlin, you alright?”

 

Merlin started at his mother’s soft voice and picked his fork up. “Yeah, Mum. Just thinking.”

 

His mother frowned and placed her hand over his for a moment before she turned back to his father.

 

“Did you get a chance to talk to Gaius today?”

Balinor frowned and rubbed his head like the mere thought of Gaius was giving him a headache. “He’s closed the shop but he’s still staying put.”

Hunith sighed. “I think he should go to a shelter. It’s not safe for him alone—especially at his age. I wish we lived closer. We’re the only family he’s got.”

 

Merlin zoned out again, focusing on the way the trees had seemed to bend when the dragon took off into the sky. By the time he was done with dinner he had convinced himself the dragon had been real and that he couldn’t waste any more time. He stood and took his bowl over to the sink, rinsing it out numbly. His family wasn’t going to be happy with him but this was the only thing he could do. They’d understand. Even if he vanished and never came back—they’d understand that he had to take the risk.

With a deep breath Merlin turned around and leaned against the kitchen counter, “I’m going to get Gaius.”

 

“Merlin, love, it’s too dangerous.” Hunith stood immediately, walking over to him. He shook his head. “You’re right. He has no one else.”

 

“I’ll go with you.” Freya immediately volunteered and next to her Will nodded. “We won’t let you go alone.”

 

“No, it’s safer if I go alone. I’ll attract less attention.”

“Yeah, you’ll attract less attention because you’ll be eaten alive by the first thing that comes across you.”

“Your faith in me is outstanding.” Merlin shop back dryly.

 

“His faith in you is realistic. Anyone who goes out alone is a fool and putting themselves in unnecessary danger.” Balinor stood, his and Hunith’s plates in his hands and brushed past them all to put them in the sink. “Gaius and I spoke about this. We both believe that outside London would be safer. He refuses to leave his home for anywhere but here.”

“So we’re going to get him and bring him back here?” Will asked hesitantly.

“We’ll leave in the morning.”

 

Hunith frowned and left the room quickly. After a moment, Balinor sighed, pat Merlin on the shoulder and followed after her.

 

“Which one of us is going to stay with your mum?” Will asked as he reached into the sink to pick up the sponge and a plate.

“You are, of course,” Freya told him in a tone that left no room for opposition. “It’s not that you’re the weakest link because you’re not,” Freya continued, her voice firm at the self-deprecating look on Will’s face. “I grew up in London, I know my way around better than anyone here. The city is going to be a mess and not having to consult a map to get around will be vital.”

 

Merlin watched as Freya grabbed a towel to help dry dishes and continued to talk about the state she thought London would be in and how they’d get there in once piece. Her plans were solid, and he’d be safer with her and his father with him, but he couldn’t go with them. He couldn’t let them put themselves in danger. He had to do this alone. If he was running a suicide mission--if the dragon was going to ambush him once he was in the open--he’d be the only one. So many people had been killed already. He wouldn’t let it happen to someone he loved. Not if he could do something to prevent it.

 

Merlin played along and waited until everyone was asleep before he grabbed the bag and his shoes and quietly slipped from the house. They were going to be furious when they found out. Freya and his father were going to straight up murder him. But he had to do this. The dragon had said he was the world’s only hope. He had to find the wizard Emrys, wherever he was, no matter how insane it sounded.

 

Pulling the ring out, he held it in his outstretched palm and watched the beam cut through the dark night. After he positioned his bike in the right direction, he slipped the ring back into his jacket pocket, making sure to zip it shut. The last thing he needed was to lose it.

With one last glance at his house, he kicked off and started peddling down the street.

 

*

 

It had been less than three weeks since the world went to hell and London had collectively lost its shit. But surprisingly only in the most civilized way. The outskirts of the city were in ruin and electricity had been one of the first things to go but somehow the city was still functioning, missing several limbs, but functioning. Shop were still open and the underground still ran Monday and Thursdays.  

The National Library, however, had been criminally easy to break into. If (when) the world pulled itself back together and monsters stopped stalking the streets, they were going to be in serious trouble. But it wasn’t like they weren’t taking good care of the books—she even wore gloves while flipping through the delicate pages. It was surreal. Her apartment was unharmed, if you could count the addition of her brother’s, Leon’s, and Lance’s things covering every available surface as unharmed.

 

Gwen looked out the window at the darkening city. She could see something moving near the far corner of the street, but it was probably just people hurrying back to whatever safe place they had for the night. Her apartment in Westminster was five minutes away from Buckingham Place where the Queen apparently was. There were patrols constantly. She was in one of the safest places in the city for now, which was why Elyan and Leon had dragged their and Lance’s things to her apartment as soon as they could. Elyan worked for the police and Leon worked in a local gym. Leon was out of work—why would you pay for exercise when just walking out your door was a struggle? Elyan was almost never home.

Lance had been in Oxford for a reason Gwen couldn’t remember anymore. The last time she talked to her boyfriend was about two days ago, right before everyone lost service. He was headed home to her though this mess. But she had faith.

 

It wasn’t like this was brand new, exactly.

Gwen Smith had grown up with Elyan and Leon. They had been together through everything, through chicken pox and Leon’s parents dying. But when she was sixteen, Leon changed. It wasn’t a bad change, it was just weird. He would stare at the TV like he’d never seen it before, he’d forget how to use his phone. Gwen had been terrified for a whole two weeks before she woke up screaming in the middle of the night. Her parents—both her parents—came rushing into her room and she rambled on about a thousand different things before her mother calmed her down enough for her to lie and say it had just been a terrible nightmare.

 

Gwen had sat in her dark bedroom until dawn, trying to process the fact it hadn’t been a nightmare. She knew it hadn’t. She remembered Camelot. She remembered Arthur and Morgana and Merlin. Gwaine and Percival and Mordred and Kara. Life as a serving girl and life as a queen.

She thought it was sort of funny, two queens living on the same street. But that only got her thinking about destiny and had she ever had any say at all in her life?

 

They met Lancelot before her brother regained his memories. He didn’t remember but Gwen and Leon were loath to let him out of their sight. He regained his memories a year later and Elyan finally remembered a year after that. It was weird. But they made do.

 

At least, that’s the story they told three years later. No one needed to know about the hoarse voices and the nights spent pacing back and forth, minds racing with mistakes they made hundreds of years ago.

 

“Gwen, are you alright?” Leon asked, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

Gwen looked away from the window to her friend, “Yes? Why? Do I not look alright?”

“No, I just wanted to check in.”

She smiled and leaned against the window frame. “Are you coping with everything alright?”

“Will you throw something at me if I say I’m used to it?”

“Why would I do that?”

Leon scowled, “Elyan did last time I brought up the past.”

Gwen laughed and rolled her eyes, “That’s because you alluded to the druid boy who possessed him.”

“I didn’t remember the boy had drowned,” Leon grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. After a moment he added, “I wish we knew what was going on.”

“It’s Albion’s greatest need.”

“Yeah, Albion’s and the rest of the planet’s.” He told her as he joined her at the window. “I still think we should tell someone.”

“Who would ever believe us? We’re going to have to figure out what to do on our own.” Gwen turned from the window to the desk where they had the stolen manuscripts piled up along with dictionaries and pages upon pages of translations. “Here—you know how Elyan said there were rumors of Lamia in Brighton?”

“He comes home with a different rumor every other day, what’s a Lamia?”

“I think I remember them attacking Camelot, actually.” She frowned, she thought she could remember rushing at something with a sword but it was hazy. “But only just.”

The thing about the memories, about remembering is that it didn’t come all at once. They didn’t suddenly remember their past lives in intricate details. The memories were mostly vague with rare moments of sudden clarity. It was frustrating to say the least.

 

The front door opened and both of them turned away from the books. “Gwen! Leon!” Elyan called, his voice laced with excitement.

“I really didn’t think he’d make it home tonight.” Leon mused as Elyan stormed up the stairs.

Gwen frowned when she realized she could hear a second set of footsteps following at a slower pace. “There’s someone with him.”

“What?” Leon began but then Elyan appeared in the doorway, his eyes wide and a broad smile on his lips.

“Look who I found on the way home!” Elyan pulled his companion into the apartment and showed him off like he was a grand prize on a game show.

 

Gwen immediately felt giddy and a laugh bubbled up from her chest, “Lance.” She raced forward and threw her arms around him tightly. Her boyfriend echoed the motion and lifted her off the ground a few inches in his enthusiasm.

“How did you get here so fast? Did you fly?” Leon asked from behind them.

“Please tell me you didn’t.” Gwen’s words were muffled in his shoulder and Lance laughed.

“I talked to you two days ago from Beaconsfield. There aren’t monsters around every corner. I stopped to help a woman rebuild part of her house and then I took the train into Paddington.”

“Paddington’s still operating?”

“Some of the tracks are undamaged and people aren’t taking this lying down. There’s constant repairs going on.”

Gwen hugged him tightly again, “I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you.” He held her close to him and then added. “To any of you. Elyan, you’re being safe, right?”

“As safe as can be expected.”

Gwen looked past Lance to her brother who still hadn’t stopped smiling, “Come in, both of you. I think dinner might be ready?” She turned to Leon for confirmation and he nodded, leading them into the kitchen.

“That’s what I was going to tell you before I got distracted.”

“Before I forget, I got a lead from work. Some guy claiming he knows what’s up.” Elyan turned around to walk backwards for a few steps. “I think one of us should check it out tomorrow.”

 

*

 

Gwen scowled as she all but tore down the street. Elyan’s lead had been a total bust. The man had spewed nonsense about the end of days and misquoted misinterpreted bible passages at her for the better part of the day. All of their leads had turned up blank so far and so she had stayed, desperate that something he said would offer any kind of insight at all. Nothing did and she didn’t have time to waste like this. She had once ruled an entire kingdom, pulled it up from wars and losing its king. She had repealed laws against magic and brought magic back to the land. Now magic was returning to England, and the world at large, and she didn’t know how to help. Everything was out of control. She needed Merlin. They needed someone with magic because they were grasping at straws and only had memories of conversations and ancient battered books to point them in the right direction.

Gwen paused mid-step as a flash of dark hair caught her eye. Someone bumped into her, nearly sending her stumbling down onto the street. She caught herself and moved to stand against the shop front next to her.

Her eyes landed on the figuring hurrying away from her. She was nearly a half a block ahead of her but—

Morgana.

“Excuse me!” Gwen called, racing after the woman but she was walking too fast. “Morgana!”

The woman stopped and turned around, eyes narrow, dangerous. However as soon as they found her, her entire countenance softened. All of a sudden she looked young and vulnerable.

 

“Gwen?” Morgana’s face lit up and she laughed as she raced over to her, throwing her arms around the younger woman and holding her tight.

“What’s the matter?” Gwen asked immediately, recognizing the tightness of her hug.  

Morgana took a step back running and hand through her hair. “My brother and I had a disagreement about what we should be doing.”

“Arthur?”

“Yes. We remembered together a year ago. We were in a car crash. But, Gwen, it’s so good to see you. We thought we might be the only ones who were back.”

“You’re not. My brother, Leon and Lancelot are back as well. They’re at my apartment, actually. We’ve been doing the same thing you two have been I guess—we raided the National Library right when everything started to try to figure—“

Screams erupted from the end of the street and both women turned towards the sound. They glanced at each other and then ran against the crowd.

“Do you have your magic?” Gwen asked, squeezing out of the way of a couple as they sprinted down the street.

“I can try.”

Gwen looked around her, trying to find something to use to defend them. Morgana made a small noise of realization and then held out her hand and shouted, “Ic þé wiþdrífe.”

Gwen turned back around in time to see something that looked like an oversized cobra hit the pavement, sending people scattering. Morgana raced forward but the creature didn’t attack, it simply made its way into a crack in the pavement, towards the sewers maybe or gearing up for another attack. Gwen followed Morgana to the opening, hands hovering out in front of her, ready to pull the other woman back if the snake leapt out at them but it didn’t reappear.

 

“I don’t hear it,” Morgana whispered. “I think it might have been more scared of us then we were of it.”

 

Gwen looked around but no one appeared hurt. However, with the beast out of sight, suspicious eyes turned to the pair to them and Gwen grabbed Morgana’s elbow, leading her down the street. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

 

“You’re welcome!” Morgana called sarcastically over her shoulder and then took the lead. “My flat’s just a couple blocks this way. Arthur’s there if he hasn’t run off.”

 

The walk to Morgana’s apartment was uneventful and quiet. Neither woman spoke, Gwen watched the people passing by with a calculating eye. She always thought the state of a kingdom was easy to read in its people. Most everyone looked worried, which, yeah, it’d be weird if they weren’t. But there were a few groups of people with smiles and laughter in between suspicious glances around them. Next to her, Morgana flexed her hands at her sides with tight lips.

 

“Here.” Morgana lead Gwen though the gate leading to a white building. The front yard as well as the entire face of the flat had scorch marks. “Neighbors said it was a dragon, but they were high as hell when it happened so it honestly could have been anything.”

“A dragon.”

“It’s a little too close to home for my liking—both literally and figuratively. I don’t want to relive the attack on Camelot.” Morgana no sooner had her door unlocked when someone wrenched it open.

 

“Morgana. Thank God. What were you thinking, going out there? You know what they do to people they even think have—Guinevere.”

 

Gwen looked from Morgana who had taken a step in front of her glaring to the blond man standing in front of them. Her heart leapt in her throat and she brushed past Morgana to wrap her arms around him, “Arthur. Thank god you two remember.” Arthur put his arms around her cautiously.

“I told them you were here. I knew Merlin wasn’t wrong.”

“Merlin?” Arthur parroted and Morgana spun around towards her.

“You didn’t mention him before.”

Gwen shook her head, “Oh! No, sorry—I haven’t met him in this life. Back in Camelot, he said that Arthur, you’d come back. We always thought that it meant during the time of Camelot, not during the time of Instagram and Vines.”

“How did he know?”

“The Great Dragon—“

“The dead dragon?” Arthur asked flatly, wholly displeased with the direction the conversation was headed.

“Yes, well, you didn’t kill it, obviously. Merlin just let you think you did.”

 

Morgana chuckled, and this wasn’t really a laughing matter but at least they weren’t at each other’s throats. She never thought she’d see this again—being in the same room as Arthur and Gwen and not wanting to kill them.  “Arthur, do you need to sit down?”

“I’ve never seen anyone so upset to have to cross dragon slayer off their CV.”

“He’s the only person who’s ever had to take dragon slayer off their CV. Although if it really was a dragon that completely ruined my flat’s curb appeal, you might have another chance.”

Gwen laughed but then it faded into a groan and she shook her head. “But CVs aside, the Great Dragon told Merlin—and I think in these exact words because I remember him using them every time—when Albion’s need was greatest, Arthur would rise again. Apparently he spoke to Merlin quite frequently about his destiny?”

“Before or after I didn’t kill it?”

“Merlin once told me he met him when he first arrived in Camelot?”

“Which means he went under the castle to where father had him locked up.” Arthur went silent for a moment, then, “Did he free him?”

“Um… that, I don’t know.”

“What a naive little idiot.” Arthur groaned, absolutely convinced that Merlin had indeed released the dragon his father had kept under the castle for a reason.

“I’m sure he didn’t—” Morgana began, unsure.

“Of course he didn’t. He’s so stupid, thinking the best of everything. It probably told him it’d fly away and not harm anyone.” Arthur put his hands on his hips and looked away, silent for a moment before turning back to Gwen. “What do mean when Albion needed me the most I’d rise again? What about you two, you’re here as well.”

“I don’t know. You were the only one specified,” She confessed and then looked him in the eye. “So what’s going on?”

Arthur’s face fell blank, “I have absolutely no clue.”

“Hence why we were fighting in the first place. Despite whatever Merlin said the dragon told him, Arthur isn’t some secret fail-safe.”

“Unless you are and we just don’t know how yet.”

“Unless it’s spelt out in front of us, I don’t have a clue how to help anyone,” Arthur confessed, looking stressed.

“Elyan, Lance and Leon are staying at my apartment,” Gwen said slowly. “We should brainstorm together.”

“We should hurry if we want to make it there before dark.” Arthur headed towards one of the bedroom, presumably to get his things. Morgana looked around her apartment and then sighed.

“Whose apartment is safer, yours or mine?”

“Mine. It’s probably a little smaller, but not by much and the foundation’s still stable. I saw some cracks on our way in.”

Morgana nodded. “The kitchen’s right on your left, could you pack the food up? I don’t see us having a reason to come back here then.”

“Of course. I’ll kick the boys out of the second bedroom so you can have it,” Gwen told her and Morgana gave her a tight-lipped smile before they separated to pack.

 

*

 

With a groan, Gwen dropped a brand-name tote bag filled mainly with plastic water bottles onto the landing. “Hello?” She called out up the stairs into the dark apartment. The sun had mostly set by the time they made it across the city, having had to take several detours and stopping for about an hour to reunite a child with her mother.  She picked the tote bag up again and began climbing the stairs. “They must still be out. Can I get you some tea?”

 

Arthur and Morgana looked around the cramped room as they made it to the top of the stairs. Arthur dumped his bags on the floor with a thud, the other two following suit a moment later. Morgana turned to her, “Yes, please. Where’s your kettle?”

 

“Still in the kitchen. Come on.” She took her arm and led her into the other room, pausing only to pick up the bags containing food.

“It’s you, your brother, Leon and Lancelot?” Morgana asked as she placed a purse on the table and began to take canned fruit out of it.

Gwen turned the kettle on and spun around, leaning against the counter. “Yeah. It was just me and Lance until this whole mess started. He was in Oxford until just a few days ago, if you can believe it.”

“Lance?” She looked away from a bag of dried beans and raised an eyebrow.

“We’ve been dating for a year or two now.” Gwen reached down and hoisted the tote bag up and started lining water bottles up on the counter.

“Aww.” Morgana smiled.

“Yeah. We would have started dating sooner but the whole Camelot thing made it kinda weird.”

Morgana opened her mouth to speak but the kettle went off, causing Gwen to flinch. “Sorry—I helped speed it up,” she confessed.

Gwen glanced to her and saw that her eyes were slowly fading from gold to green. She smiled warmly at her and opened the cabinet to take mugs out, hesitating momentarily as she reached for a third.

“Arthur, tea?” Morgana called. His response was muffled so she turned to Gwen, “Do you have chai?”

Gwen picked the third mug and placed it on the counter next to the other two. “Of course I do. The boys tease me about my tea collection. I’m bringing it with me if we have to leave.”

“Really?” Morgana laughed as Gwen pulled her tea box down and opened it, pulling a packet out and opening it without preamble.

“I have my priorities,” she said, as she poured water into the cup and watched Morgana flip through the teas.

“Have you ever bought the same blend twice?” she asked, picking a packet out at random and giving a little noise of approval.

“Don’t be silly.”

Morgana put teabags into her and Arthur’s mugs and Gwen poured water. They fussed around in the kitchen for a couple more minutes , long enough to steal some of Elyan’s hidden biscuits and then they went back out to Arthur in the sitting room.

 

“Here, Arthur. It’s chai. Stop pacing and sit down.”

“Listen to your Queen.” Morgana sank into the cushions when she sat on the couch and she crossed her legs.

“What are the others doing?”

“Elyan has work—he works for the police—but he should be off soon, they don’t usually have him working late. I’m not sure where Leon and Lance were off to today, I left before they decided.”

She handed Arthur his tea and went to sit on the other side of the couch. Arthur continued to pace around the room, pausing when he saw a picture of Lance and Gwen.

“So—you two are together, then?”

Gwen glanced to Morgana who was very pointedly looking at the contents of her mug.

“Yeah. We are.”

Arthur turned towards her with a smile on his face, doing a very poor job of hiding his relief. “Good. I’m glad.”

“He’s queerer than whatever’s happening to the world,” Morgana explained. “Although, I was worried it was going to change with you. I’m glad it didn’t. He’s been going on about Merlin since we remembered. It’d be so irritating if all that nagging and prattling was for nothing.”

“Merlin?” Gwen asked as Arthur scowled at his sister.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. She gets these ideas, Guinevere, and nothing you say can make her change her mind—no matter how completely wrong she is.”

Morgana ignored her brother and looked to Gwen, “Give it a day or two, it’s really embarrassing actually.”

“Morgana,” Arthur sighed, a slight warning in his voice. She smiled cheekily at him and then the front door was thrown open and Lance, Elyan and Leon rushing up the stairs.

“Gwen, where have you been?”

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“Are you hurt?”

Gwen leapt to her feet, letting Lancelot kiss her forehead and he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m okay. I just bumped into someone.”

“Merlin?” Lancelot asked at once.

“Arthur and Morgana.”

For the first time the three men noticed their guests. Morgana quietly sipped her tea and Arthur placed his on the bookshelf next to Gwen and Lance’s picture.  Elyan laughed, “Arthur! Thank fuck you’re here, we’ve been going crazy trying to figure out what’s going on.”

“Well don’t get your hopes up, we have less of a clue than you.”

“Morgana,” Leon said suddenly, as if only just remembering that she had been their enemy.

Morgana frowned and put her hand up, “You don’t need to draw your swords, I’m here to help.”

“Help how?”

“That’s what we were discussing.”  Gwen pulled Lance and the others into the room.

“Do you remember everything?” Leon asked Arthur as he took a seat on the edge of the coffee table.

 

Lance sat on the other side of the couch, with Gwen in between him and Morgana. Elyan opted for a chair next to Lance and Leon leaned on the wall near Arthur. Morgana took another sip of tea and pretended not to notice.

“Not so much technical things, but sometimes I feel like I could remember every emotion I’ve ever felt.”

“it’s the same with us. It helps if you practice and try to visualize it. The memories come back.”

“Arthur and I duel with baguettes to keep his swordsmanship skills top-notch.”

“Once. We dueled with banquettes once.”

“I’m glad you’re our king,” Elyan laughed.

“Don’t. I’m not.”

Morgana leaned back against the couch, her mug cradled in her hands. “He doesn’t like to be called a king.”

“Gwen has no problem with it.”

“We think MI6 is onto us,” Leon teased.

Gwen leaned forward, her hands out as if to stop the others from talking. “Stop. No. It’s a joke. We joke about it because what’s the alternative?”

Morgana looked to her brother with a sly smile on her face. “You have a space in your office dedicated solely to tracking down your former manservant.”

“I do not, Morgana!” Arthur hissed but the faint pink on his cheeks betrayed him.

“Does that translate to you being sort of an expert on, um, Guineverian Literature?” Lance glanced to his girlfriend as he spoke and Gwen smiled at him and pat his leg.

Arthur ran his hand over his face. “Sort of yes? But don’t try to tell me you haven’t researched it as well for some sort of explanation.”

Elyan leaned forward and looked to his sister. “Hey, before we show him the books, can we eat dinner first?”

“Books?”

“We might have stolen some manuscripts from the National Library,”  Gwen answered Arthur quickly and then stood to go into the kitchen.

“Oi—Gwen—,“ Lance called, getting to his feet and intercepting her on her way into the kitchen. “I’ve got this. We don’t need you burning the flat down.”

“I can heat up soup,” she protested but let him nudge her back to the others. Silently, Leon went to help Lance in the kitchen.

“You broke into the National Library?”

Gwen waved him over to the desk and showed him the books. “We’re desperate. There’s no internet. These books are the closest thing we have to Camelot.”

“These are so cool,” Arthur murmured and Elyan dramatically leaned back into his seat.

“Great. Arthur’s turned into a nerd.”

Morgana laughed and Elyan flashed her a quick smile and that, Gwen thought, was a good start.

 

*

 

It was only a matter of time before they were forced out of Gwen and Lance’s apartment.

 

The screaming had started at some unholy hour of the night, startling them all awake. Arthur was the first to his feet in the common room and raced over to the window. Whatever was making the noise wasn’t human. It was high pitched, like nails on a chalkboard and it sounded like there were hundreds of whatever was making the sound. The streets were dark and still, although Arthur could see movement in the flat across the road, the curtains moving and then the faint light of a candle. Arthur turned back towards the others—Morgana stood in the doorway of her room, a sweater wrapped tightly around her, and he could hear Gwen and Lance from inside their bedroom. The other three were scrambling to get out of bed, Leon with a baseball bat in his hand that Arthur just wasn’t going to question.

Elyan’s radio went off and he swore darkly. “They’re evacuating everyone away from Buckingham. They want us past Belgravia.”

“The screams are coming from the palace?” Gwen appeared in the doorway, Lance was seemingly throwing things around in their room.

“Don’t know. Don’t want to stick around long enough to find out,” Elyan confessed, throwing things into an already half-packed backpack he pulled out from under the couch.

Their belongings haphazardly packed, they all raced from the house only to find that the screeching had intensified and the air was so cold it stung them.

“We should go help,” Arthur shouted over the screams. “People could be in danger.”

“We don’t know what we’re up against,” Lance argued back.

“Mr. Bourdelle!” Gwen shouted, running to the flat across the road and banging roughly on the door. “Mr. Bourdelle, we’re being evacuated!” Elyan and Leon raced over to her as the door opened and a young girl appeared in her pajamas.

“Where’s your grandfather?” Gwen asked immediately, the girl looked behind her and Gwen turned to them. “We have to evacuate the street—they won’t know.”

Elyan and Leon hurried to the next flat as Morgana moved closer to Arthur. “I don’t know what this is. But I can try to stop it—I have magic.”

“You’re only one person.”   
“I’m a high priestess,” she shouted back, like it meant something. It didn’t to Arthur. She might have been a high priestess once but it had been a lifetime ago—to say that she was rusty would be an understatement. It took her ages to come up with a simple spell—the thought of Morgana trying to protect herself and coming up empty wasn’t one Arthur wanted to entertain. She was his sister--full stop. On the other hand, he couldn’t leave people in danger when they could do something about it.

A bright, eerie white light erupted in the sky to their left and Arthur squinted—he could see shapes in it, circling around like ghosts in some cheesy Halloween attraction.

“We can help people get away. That’s going to have to be enough for now.”

The white shapes in the sky swooped down towards the ground and Arthur felt himself stepping away without meaning to.

“Alright—,“ he gasped, his breath foggy in the air in front of him. “I don’t like it but--“

Gwen appeared from the flat, supporting an old man with the help of someone who looked like his son. A gaggle of grandchildren and the man’s wife appeared behind them and Arthur ran over to take the man from Gwen, who immediately raced to another house.

“What’s going on?” The elderly man gasped as he tried to look behind him.

“Don’t know. We just have to get out of here.”

They began heading down the street as fast as they could.

 

The ground shook beneath their feet and one of the little girls tripped. Arthur shrugged the man off and bent down to pick the girl up. He balanced her on his hip and then went back to supporting the man with his other side.

“Leave me—,“ he said and the little girl started to cry. “Save the kids—“

“Dad—,“ the man supporting his other side protested.

“Of course we’re not going to do that.”

“Mr. Bourdelle!” Gwen called, running across the street with a woman in her early thirties.

“Come on—,“ the woman said, her eyes on the sky behind them. “My car’s still running. I can fit you and your family.”

Mr. Bourdelle tried to protest but Arthur and his son all but flung him into the back of the woman’s car and practically buried him under grandchildren. Arthur shut the door after them and then they were off, speeding down the road, leaving Arthur feeling more than a little exposed to the—whatever it was behind them.

He ignored the feeling and continued down the road.

 

When the sun rose a few hours later, the freezing temperatures dissipated and a call came over Elyan’s radio, which had been terrifyingly silent since the first message, and announced that whatever it had been was gone.

“Did you remember the tea?” Morgana asked from Arthur’s left as he leaned against a tree. They were in Kensington Gardens and Arthur really couldn’t tell you how they got there. It was a blur of earthquakes that seemed never-ending, telling about a hundred people that they had to abandon their homes and the feeling of not being enough to stop any of it pressing in on him.

“It’s in my backpack but there’s no telling how long I’ll be able to keep it.”

“As soon as we get our hands on hot water, I’m brewing a cup.” Morgana sighed but then paused, “Actually, we have a travel mug somewhere right—“

Before she could finish the thought, a hiss sounded from somewhere close by. Arthur’s head shot up, eyes narrowed.  Lance climbed to his feet, looking around for the source of the noise. Elyan remained on the ground where he had been sprawled out on his back for the past several minutes. Leon took a step closer to him. In the distance, and moving towards them, were two or three overgrown lizards.

“How--”  gasped Leon, “are these things just wandering around? Are people just running away from them and letting them carry on? No one’s trying to catch them or stop them or anything?”

“Less talking. More moving.” Lance tugged him towards the street but he was the only one moving.

Morgana, who hadn’t budged an inch, glanced to Arthur, looking vaguely ill. “We were chased right to them.”

“You think the light forced us to them? That this isn’t a coincidence?”

Morgana pressed her lips together into a firm line and then rubbed her hands on her arms like she was rolling up imaginary sleeves. “I’m going to stop them. We’re the ones who dragged those people out of their homes and to the shelter. I won’t let these lizards reach them. And who knows, they might be harmless.”

“Most of us were knights of Camelot, I think we can handle some overgrown lizards.”

 

Arthur felt the weight of the baseball bat in his hand and looked to the others. Elyan pushed himself up onto his elbows, watching the lizards approach with narrow eyes, but apparently he hadn’t deemed it necessary to get to his feet yet. He had a baton in his bag and a taser, Lance and Gwen each had half of a kayak oar, and Leon had a metal beam he had picked up god knows where. He had never seen them fight but they probably weren’t as good as they used to be--Arthur knew his skills paled in comparison to what they had been. However, they had been the best of the best and even if they were half as powerful as they used to be,it would still be enough. Plus, it was high time they stopped running. If he was supposed to save the world, he might as well start with these lizards.

 

Morgana reached out her hand. “Swefn.”

 

The air crackled with magic but whatever spell she cast didn’t have the slightest impact on the lizards.

Actually, scratch that, it alerted them to their presence. They hissed louder, and one even seemed to growl as they set their sights on them and seemed to run towards them.

 

“Onslæp nu!” Morgana called as Leon and Gwen stepped in front of her. The closer they got, the bigger Arthur realized they actually were. He, Leon and Elyan (after he scrambled to his feet and pulled what Arthur assumed to be his taser out of his bag) stepped in front of Gwen and Lance as Morgana cried frustratedly, “Swefe nu!” The spell did nothing and the lizards were right on top of them. “Ic þé wiþdrífe!” she cried and one of them went tumbling backwards.

 

The other two didn’t stop. Arthur swung the bat at the lizard, causing it to duck backwards out of the way. At the same time Elyan stunned the other with the taser, causing it to recoil by turning away. Arthur, with his eyes on his own lizard, didn’t notice the the tail until it was colliding with his face. Gwen screamed his name, but Arthur kept his grip on the bat and rolled with the hit. A dark shadow fell over him and he swung blindly, colliding with one of the lizards’ face. It hissed and pulled back for the briefest of moments before lunging at him.

 

Arthur swung the bat out again but just as he did someone else leapt into the lizard’s side, sending it staggering away from Arthur and giving him time to get back to his feat.

 

“Hello, mate!” A cheery voice sounded next to him and Arthur spun around, bat out in front of him. It was deflected with what looked like a metal beam. “Woah—we’re still on the same side!” Arthur tried to get a good look at the man but the rising sun blinded him and he turned to fend off another one of the lizards.

Leon was at his left with the stranger at his right and together they forced the lizard back as they made their way to Morgana, who was still casting spells, trying to find something that would do some permanent help.

“Watch out!” The stranger called, pushing Arthur out of the way to deflect a tail and Arthur realized with a jolt he knew who they were.

“Gwaine!” he gasped as he was knocked back into Morgana who caught him, momentarily frozen at the sight of the man.

“Watch it!” Gwaine leapt to the side as one of the tails came swinging at them.

“Oh!” Morgana gasped with excitement in her voice and then she stretched her hand out again, “Lytelfóta!” she shouted and the nearest lizard violently shrank to a mere foot in size. Alarmed at its new predicament, the lizard scurried away into the grass.

“Nice,” Gwaine nodded, and stepped back to give her a good shot at another one. It too took off into the grass and Morgana’s face started to regain some color as she casted the shrinking spell at the final lizard (Arthur had a name for it on the tip of his tongue).

With all three of the beasts vanished, everyone gathered back around. “Where the hell did you come from?” Elyan protested loudly.  

Panting, Gwaine just smiled as he looked at the six of them. Then his eyes went wide, “Oh, almost forgot. Be right back.”

Arthur panted, bending over to rest his hands on his knees. “He’s certainly enthusiastic.”

Morgana sat down on the ground roughly, rubbing her hands together. At some point over the last few minutes, they had been rubbed raw. Gwen went to her side, gently taking her hand and looking at her palm.

Gwaine returned a moment later with Percival at his side. Percival was limping but he had a smile on his face to see them. “They tried to attack us and Perce here twisted his ankle but we managed to scare them away. Then I heard you lot fighting so I left the cripple to come help.”

“Merlin?” Arthur asked, completely ignoring the explanation, peering behind the two of them.

Gwaine’s smile instantly faded from his face, “What, do you mean he’s not with you?”

“He’s not with us.” Morgana told him darkly, not looking up from her hands.

Elyan bit his lip. “He won’t last two seconds on his own.”  At that, Morgana, Leon and Percival snorted and Gwen smiled softly at her brother. “What?” he asked, scrunching his face up in confusion.

“He’s a sorcerer. He was all along.”

Elyan recoiled and looked around the group accusingly, “Why did no one ever say anything?”

“I honestly don’t know who knows what anymore.”

Arthur narrowed his eyes at Gwaine. “You knew as well?”

Gwaine had the gall to look offended, “Of course I knew. I’m not an idiot. Remember the time we went to the Fisher King’s Kingdom and that guy at the bridge was going on about courage, magic, and strength? Plus, I sort of you know, was told the stories growing up? About him and Gwen? Were they not real?”

“I didn’t think that part was real!” Elyan protested before turning to the others. “You all knew all along and never told me!”

“I don’t know how you don’t know,” Leon confessed, looking exasperated.

Arthur stared at him blankly and then, as Morgana moved her hand to cover her smirk, said quickly. “But he never told you?”

“Nah.” Gwaine shrugged, like it didn’t matter.

“As much as I love talking about Merlin, sitting out in the open like this is only going to attract trouble. I don’t want the lizards to come back, little or not.”

“Morgana’s right, we need someplace to spend the night.”

They ended up in the basement of a building that might have been near Archway—they had passed the sign lying in the middle of the road but Elyan thought they were still way too far south.

 

*

The next several days passed uneventfully. They set up camp in the basement and took turns patrolling the area, helping people when they could. Elyan decided against going back to work, citing the fact that with no cell reception, if they were forced away from their building, he might never find them again. Plus, he was more loyal to Arthur than to the Queen. (Arthur scowled for the rest of the day but Morgana had laughed). Percival’s ankle healed quickly with the help of Morgana’s magic but it was clear by the look on both Percival and Gwaine’s faces that they weren’t sure how they felt about that.

 

Morgana’s inclusion was largely due to how fiercely Arthur defended his sister. Everyone else tiptoed around her, clearly unable to fully trust her. Gwen was making the best strides.

 

She and Morgana sat on sleeping bags (being outdoors people had it’s perks in situations like these, Lance teased the other’s every chance he got) eating crisps. Morgana sighed and looked down at the floor, “Our mother was killed a year ago and we haven’t seen Father since all of this started.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“She might not be my birth mother, if history repeated itself, but she was my mother for the past twenty three years and I still can’t accept she’s gone and the world’s just upside down.”

Gwen put a hand over Morgana’s. “Truly, Morgana, I’m so sorry.”

She sighed and then changed the topic. “How’s your father?”

“Mum and Dad are back home. Last time I talked to them they were safe.”

She smiled gently at her. “Good. I’m glad.”

Arthur chose that moment to call over. “Morgana, how are your hands?”

The woman looked up and held her palms out for him to see. They were a little red but nowhere near as raw as they had been when the lizards attacked.

“The thing about magic is that it can help fix the damage it’s done.”  She bit her lip for a moment, glanced around the room and then locked eyes with her brother. “I want to find Agravaine and Morgause. They have magic. They can help us.”

Arthur physically recoiled from her, a grimace on his face. “No. They betrayed me, how can I trust them?”

“You forgave me,” Morgana counted gently.

“I grew up with you. Everything we did back then comes secondary to the fact that you’re my sister and I know you.”

“We need help,” she argued.

“We need Merlin,” Gwen spoke quietly from next to her.

Morgana nodded, “He’s Emrys.”

“Yeah, does someone care to explain that to me? And while you’re at it—why do some of the tales say Mordred was Morgana and—“

“People make shit up.” Arthur told Gwaine sharply.

“I think he’s a little upset it’s Queen Guinevere and not King Arthur.”

“At least you’re mentioned.” Leon sighed, “It’s not like I up and died--out of all of us I was almost in Camelot the longest.”

“I want you all to know I never beheaded anyone. And I don’t know if you’re trying to get out of explaining this Emrys thing or what, but I want to know.”

“Emrys is what the druids called him.”

“Call him?” Lancelot asked, transparent in his attempt to bring Merlin into present tense.  

“I haven’t met a druid in this life. But we all call him Emrys in the legends and that’s basically the same thing. He’s... magic itself. Everyone told me he would be my doom and I was terrified. He was so powerful.”

“More powerful than you?”

Morgana shrugged.“I’d like to think I’m still more powerful but seeing as he managed to kill me... point goes to Merlin, I guess?”

Gwen frowned and grabbed Morgana’s hand, Elyan chuckled and the others just grimaced.

"Where is he? If he's as powerful as you say, why isn't he here?" Arthur had his arms crossed and a dark, frustrated look on his face.

"Perhaps we don't need him?"

Gwen sighed and let go of Morgana’s hand to run her hands through her hair. "He has to be. He of all people deserves to rest but I can't see him not being here, no matter what stands in his way. I cannot see him not being here with you. He wouldn't let it happen again."

“You didn’t see him after we lost you.” Percival added quietly.

“He went into that cave for you, Arthur,” Gwaine crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway. “He didn’t get his magic back for himself.”

He sighed. “Yeah,” Arthur rubbed his eyes and rested his head against the wall.

 

He didn’t know how long he stood there, eyes shut breathing in and out steadily, when there was a shuffling outside and then the door opened. Arthur opened his eyes just as a beam of light shot into the room from a man’s hand and the man looked up sharply, completely shocked to see anyone else here.

Merlin.

Arthur let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and opened his mouth to speak.

Merlin beat him to it as he wrenched something off his finger and stuffed it into his pocket causing the beam to disappear.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know anyone would be here." There was a moment when the entire room was still, waiting for Merlin to continue speaking. The sense of relief twisted in his chest when he didn’t. Merlin just stood awkwardly in the doorway, his hand still on the handle.

A sick feeling settled in the pit of Arthur's stomach as he watched Merlin look over them, his alarmed expression not altering in the slightest. He turned away when he saw that Merlin’s eyes didn’t even hold the barest hint of recognition.

 

Gwen stepped forward. “It’s okay,” she said gently, a small smile on her lips. Arthur looked to Gwaine who was beaming and then looked away from him as well. He couldn’t look at anyone right now. “What are you doing here?”

 

“It’s—stupid. It sounds stupid but someone told me to come here. He—they—he, I guess—said there was something here that would help me.”

 

Arthur kept expecting a punchline. He waited for the moment Merlin’s lips twisted into a smirk and he laughed and told them all he was just fucking with them. He always had a terrible sense of humor.

“What do you need help with?” Gwen continued gently.

“It’s… well, it’s complicated.”

“We know complicated, mate, believe me.” Gwaine still hadn’t gotten his smile under control. He looked completely unfazed that Merlin didn’t have a single clue who any of them were.

“Come in, sit down, we were just about to make tea,” Morgana smiled and Gwen elbowed her playfully, before stepping towards Merlin.

“Are you alright? Have you traveled far?”

“I live in a town on the coast, near Hastings.”

“And you were in the city when everything started?”

“No I came after. It’s… someone gave me a spell that lead me here. The country’s a mess. I was nearly killed at least twenty times.”

She laughed, and put her hands on her hips. “Are you boasting?”

“No! Of course not. My bike got eaten by a giant lizard-thing two days ago.”

“Sucks mate, those giant lizard things suck.” Gwaine piped up and Merlin looked over to him, smiling and nodding in agreement.

“So, why are you here?” Arthur asked.

“A dragon told me I had to find Queen Guinevere’s wizard and so here I am, trying to fulfill some destiny a dragon told me. A dragon, can you believe it?”

For three seconds Arthur just stared blankly at him. “You are such an idiot, Merlin.” Gwen and Morgana turned to him in unison but it was Lance who spoke up first.

“Arthur. Don’t.”

It looked like the shock of that alone was enough to stun Arthur into silence.

“Kilgarrah. Was Kilgarrah the dragon who sent you on this quest?” Lance continued when he realized Arthur wasn’t going to say anything else.

Merlin turned his wide eyes to Lance, “How did you…?”

“Lancelot du Lac. Everyone though my parents had a terrible sense of humor but as it turns out…”

“You’re actually Lancelot of legend.”

“I was seventeen when I remembered. Nearly two months after Gwen, Elyan and Leon.”

“Gwen?” Merlin asked, eyes darting between Morgana and Gwen. Gwen stepped forward and smiled kindly at him.

“Gwen Smith.”

“You’re…”

“You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for help.”

“Holy shit, you’re really Queen Guinevere? I remember my mother reading me bedtime stories and— wow, this is weird.”

“My mother read me those stories as well. I understand perfectly how bizarre all of this is.”

Merlin looked between the woman—Queen Guinevere, who looked like she stepped right out of a fairy tale—and the blond prat—Arthur, they had called him. Suddenly, everything clicked into place. Queen Guinevere and…

“You’re King Arthur? Well, aren’t we fucked.”

Arthur puffed up, glaring fiercely at him but all Merlin did was roll his eyes and turn away. He paced a few steps away and then stopped, running his hand over his face.

 

“And you need Emyrs for this. Of course.” Merlin sighed again, feeling the weight of the past few days. His father was going to be furious. Will and Freya were going to be furious. His mother was going to murder him. “Just tell me how I can help and I’ll do my best.”

 

“Thank you, Merlin.”

“Were you serious about the tea because I haven’t—“

“We’re always serious about tea.” Morgana assured him. She stood and went over to their make-shift kitchen, pouring water into mug and then she whispered “wyllaþ.” She turned get Gwen’s backpack, sitting next to her on the couch, when the mug exploded, sending boiling water into the air. Morgana screamed and ducked out of the way but swore as some of the water landed on her forearm.

Lance reached her first. “Are you alright?”

“It burnt me but it’s fine.” She looked at the remains of the mug, shattered on the floor and the crate used as a countertop. “What happened?”

He looked to the water and the way it was steaming on the crate. “The water got way too hot.”

“It shouldn’t have. I’ve used that spell a hundred times already. It shouldn’t have been that powerful.”

“We need to wrap your arm—it’s blistering and we can’t afford to have it get infected.” Lance went over to their first aid bag but Morgana went back over to the water. She grabbed another mug and a water bottle and Merlin took a step towards her.

“No—you don’t have to—“

“Merlin. Shut up. I’ve got this.”  Morgana took a step back from the mug but whispered wyllaþ again. They all waited in silence for a moment but nothing happened. She reached out and tentatively touched the side of the cup.

“It’s perfect,” she announced. “How do you take your tea?” Morgana made her way over to him with the mug of hot water and handed him the mug. “Gwen’s got everything you could possibly want in her bag, at least fifteen kinds of tea, honey, sugar, three kinds of non-dairy creamers.”

“Thank you—”

“Morgana. My name’s Morgana.”

“…really?”

“Don’t give me that look. I just burnt myself making you tea, do you really think I’m going to hurt you?”

“No—sorry. I didn’t mean—“

She smiled, a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “No, it’s alright. I’d react the same way.”

Merlin silently rummaged through Gwen’s backpack. After a moment, he asked, “Why am I the only one who can find him?”

“What did the dragon say? He was always cryptic and obscure on purpose.”

“I think his exact words were ‘you have to reunite a powerful sorcerer with his king’. That it’s my destiny and if I don’t fulfil it the world is doomed.”

“That’s what he said, exactly?”

Merlin threw his hands up. “I don’t know, I was a little preoccupied with the fact that a dragon was standing twenty feet from me and was about to light both me and the woods on fire.”

“Well… you’re not dead,” Gwaine reminded him and Merlin gave a little huff of a laugh as he dipped his teabag into the mug.

“I’m not dead,” he agreed. Merlin sipped his tea in silence for a moment and then looked up to them all. “Part of the reason I’m here is because I have to find my Great-Uncle.”

Lance leaned over to whisper something in Arthur’s ear and the blonde’s eyes narrowed in thought.

“Do you know where he is?”

“He owns an antique shop in Canary Wharf, he lives above it.”

Morgana bit her lip, “Canary Wharf was hit hard but there’s still hope. We can go with you to look for him. There are shelters all over the city as well.”

Merlin shook his head sharply, coloring draining from his cheeks. “He wouldn’t leave his shop. He was talking to my Dad the day the phones went out. He was refusing to go to a shelter. If something happened—if I’m too late because I came here first even though I knew I should go right to him—“

“Merlin, it’s alright. We can help. Having us all look for him is much better than you going alone.”

“It’s still early. We can go right now.”

Merlin flinched at Arthur’s words, and looked to him in surprise. “Are you sure? You don’t even know him.”

“We’ve been sitting here trying to come up with a plan for days now. This is the first thing that we know how to deal with.”

“Maybe our destiny’s waiting for us at Canary Wharf.”

Gwaine grimaced. “I sincerely hope not.”

“I’m all for leaving right now to actually do something for once.”

 

Everyone immediately leapt into action, leaving Merlin looking lost. Lance and Gwaine pulled him into helping them pack the food up almost instantly.

“Wait.” Arthur’s voice was sharp. “Why are we packing everything?”

“We might not be able to make it back here. We’re all going,” Gwen explained carefully, not looking up from where she was rolling sleeping bags up.

Arthur’s eyes immediately landed on Merlin. “You’re staying here.”

“He’s my uncle. Plus I have to find Emrys. I’m coming.”

“A dragon told you to find—Emrys. A dragon. Do you hear yourself?”

“There are mermaids in the Thames! There are harpies in the sky and goblins in the banks!”

“There are not Goblins in the bank, are there?” Gwen gasped from the other side of the room and Elyan pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You haven’t obviously been anywhere near Sevenoaks recently,” Merlin grimaced. “And, no, they’re not like the Harry Potter goblins.”

“Listen to you—Harry Potter? This isn’t a game. This is real and it’s dangerous.”

“I have to do this.”

“You’re a liability Merlin. Everyone here can protect themselves. We all know how to use a sword.”

Merlin threw his arms up to indicate the room at large. “Of which there are none unless you’ve broken into the Tower? I think they still have security there.”

“We don’t need swords! The point I was making is that we can protect ourselves and Morgana has magic. What can you do?”

“I made it to London alright.”

Arthur raised his eyebrows, “And how much of that had to do with luck?”

“Less than you’d think.” Merlin glared.

“Yeah. Like I’d believe that.” Arthur’s laugh was hollow and Merlin’s glare intensified.

 

Gwaine pushed himself up off the couch, “Woah woah woah—I’ll take care of him. We’ll stick together and that way everyone’s happy.”

“He’s going to get you killed.” Arthur told him blankly.

“Honestly, mate, that’s preferable to sitting here listening to you two scream at each other all day.”

Merlin sighed, “Thank you. The sooner I find him the better.”

Arthur went perfectly still for about three seconds before he just lost control.

“Merlin!” he bellowed and Gwen shot to her feet, halfway between standing in front of Merlin and running over to Arthur. “You don’t have to look anywhere to find Emrys. He’s you. For some god awful reason you haven’t remembered yet.”

 

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re Emrys. I don’t know why the dragon told you you had to find yourself when all you need to do is to remember.”

Merlin put his hands up to physically separate himself from Arthur. “You’re mistaken. You’re confused.”

“Arthur! Lay off him. We need to get going if we’re going to make it to Canary Wharf in time. You’re not helping things at all.”

Arthur frowned but held up his hands in surrender. He turned and went to Morgana who frowned back and handed him his pack.

“You can’t force him to remember and if you keep that up you’re going to chase him away,” Morgana moved away leaving Arthur to his own devices. He, of course, eavesdropped on Merlin. He didn’t remember anything.

Merlin prattled on about how he didn’t believe the dragon—who would? But he couldn’t ignore it, just in case there was some truth in it. And here they were: his proof that this wasn’t a wild goose chase. Emrys had to be out there. Emrys would know what to do.

Arthur wanted to scream. Emrys didn’t know shit. He knew less than them. He was nothing more than another civilian in danger. He was nothing more than the person Arthur thought he had been for so many years.

“So could he really control dragons?” Merlin asked and the flippancy of his words struck a chord with Arthur.  

He laughed, a sharp, disbelieving sound. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Me?” squawked Merlin, dragons forgotten. “What have I ever done to you?”

“You don’t remember!”

“Excuse me—don’t you think I would know if the person I was looking for was me?”

“Obviously not. You’re such an idiot you can’t even find yourself.”

“Arthur, calm down”

But he couldn’t. He remembered the look on Merlin’s face, the shaking hands, the tears, the way he had choked over his words and how Arthur--as he lay dying--had to be the one to tell him he was going to be okay. He had been thinking about what to say for weeks now and Merlin didn’t even remember any of it.

“He doesn’t remember! What kind of joke is this supposed to be, because it’s not funny.” Arthur kicked at the ground in frustration.

Morgana looked to her brother, a sad frown on her face and then she went over to Merlin and opened the door. “Come on. We need to hurry.”

 

For thirty minutes they walked in relative silence, broken only by snippets of conversation about how buildings were faring and shops that were still open. It felt like London in the early hours of the morning, just before the morning rush. Only it was nearly noon.

 

“I don’t even recognize the city anymore,” Gwen whispered as they walked past a Primark, shelves completely empty, windows smashed.

“Here!” Merlin said suddenly, as if realizing how close they were to his Uncle’s shop. He sped up and

the others scrambled to keep up with his panicked gait. They rounded a corner and Merlin stopped short immediately. The entire street looked like a movie set in some overly high budget disaster film.

“No,” he muttered and then hurried forward to where the flat and shop were.

Arthur looked to Merlin, saw the splotches of color on his cheeks and the way his eyes didn’t leave the building in front of them. The building was half destroyed, the roof was caved in and sticking out from underneath what looked like a piano was a part of a sign that read ‘tiques’.

 

“We’ll find the nearest shelter,” Arthur promised, stepping forward to guide him away from the rubble.

“No—“ Merlin took a step back and then walked around him to the building.

“Be careful—it doesn’t look stable.”

“I have to see for myself.”

“I never said you couldn’t go, I just said we have to do it carefully.”

Arthur followed after Merlin to the edge of the rubble where Merlin paused and half turned to him, “You don’t have to come in.”

“If you think we’re just going to stand around and not do anything,” Gwaine told him flatly, “you don’t know us at all.”

Merlin glanced to him but his gaze only held exhaustion. He turned to search the building in front of him and then slowly headed to where the doorway used to be. The remnants of the door lay under concrete several feet to his left but he didn’t have eyes for them as he stepped into the rubble, hand on part of the wall still standing.

 

Arthur paused as Gwaine and Percival went around the sides and Morgana went to stand right behind Merlin, probably to protect him from the building shifting. He really didn’t want to go in there and find Merlin’s uncle’s body under a fallen beam or furniture. A sigh escaped his chest and he pushed himself to go forward, following Merlin into the rubble.

“I don’t understand how Merpeople did this,” Merlin muttered, pushing aside a curtain or maybe a bedspread hanging between the floors.

Arthur dug through the rubble close to him and didn’t answer.

No matter how hard they searched, by the time an hour and a half passed, there was still no sign of anyone. “He’s not here.” Leon told Merlin softly and Merlin looked torn between relief and despair. Arthur guided him out of the rubble back to the street where the others had gathered.

 

Merlin was silent for a moment before he went over to his backpack. “I have a picture—it’s a little old but…,” Merlin pulled it out and Arthur caught sight of a tiny Merlin dressed up in plastic amour with an older man who—Gaius. The man in the picture was Gaius. He wanted to assure Merlin that he had to be fine, he was part of their reincarnated group and so he had to be alright. Gaius was stubborn and resourceful and there’s no way a mermaid-induced earthquake could have taken him out.

But Merlin didn’t remember and so he kept his mouth shut.

*

 

“Wait—I found us a place!” Gwaine called distantly from behind them. Merlin turned and squinted at him, he hadn’t even realized he had fallen so far behind. He hadn’t been paying attention to much of anything after they left Uncle Gaius’ shop. He refused to leave his home but he wasn’t there. Merlin knew what it meant but couldn’t accept it. The others had dragged him to various shelters but there had been no sign of him anywhere. Of course they hadn’t.

Gwaine jogged towards them. “The Royal Charlie’s still open and we can stay upstairs tonight.”

“How--” Gwen began but shook her head like she didn’t want to know.

“For what price?”

“Nah,it’s not like that.” Gwaine grabbed Merlin and Gwen and pulled them back towards the pub. “You’ll see when we get there.”

Most of the buildings were in various states of collapse except for the tiny pub and a small building two lots away from it.  Without preamble, Gwaine pulled them through the door, trusting everyone else to follow.

“Gwaine!” a woman laughed as they all crowded into the pub.

“Deborah! Johnny said you were around here somewhere!”

“You know them?” Percival asked, his voice a mixture of surprise and of course you do.

“This used to be where the lads and I hung out in sixth form.”

The woman pulled Gwaine into a hug and then kept him at arm’s length. “You’ve certainly been a stranger. What brings you back here after all this time?”

“Merlin, mate, show her the picture of your uncle.”

“Oh—,” Merlin hurried to pull his backpack off and retrieve the picture. He handed it to the woman who frowned sadly first at the picture, then at Merlin.

“Sorry, love. I don’t recognize him.”

“He owns the antique a couple blocks over.”

She shook her head, “I didn’t even realize there was an antique shop around here. But if it’s alright with you I’ll pin the picture up behind the bar and ask everyone who comes in tonight if they’ve seen him. You’ve checked the shelters?”

“Yes,” Merlin sighed. “And that would be fantastic, thank you.”

“Have faith, dear, the world isn’t completely lost yet,”  She pat his arm and there was something familiar about her, something he couldn’t place.

“Is that a sword?” Percival asked suddenly and Merlin looked over to see the sword sitting on the counter behind the bar. A sense of urgency filled him suddenly and he glanced to the woman again, there was something…

“Finna!” he gasped but then immediately scrunched up his face in confusion, not know why the name had slipped from his lips.

“Hm?” Deborah asked, head tilted slightly to the side.

“I—no. Sorry. It’s been a long day.”

She smiled sadly at him again and then waved her arm in the direction of a back door. “Stairs to the flat are that way. Go put your things down. Drinks are on the house tonight.”

“Deborah, how are you going to keep in business if you do that?”

She huffed as she pinned the picture under a drink menu. “I can do what I damn well please.”

 

An hour later found Merlin laughing as he took a proffered glass from Elyan and he tipped it back, chugged the drink quickly, laughing more at the impressed look on Gwaine’s face. “I had you pegged as a lightweight,” the other man frowned.

“I guess not as much as compared to you two.”

“Why’s he still sober? Are you magic, Merlin, and you haven’t told us yet?” Elyan asked, sinking down in his seat.

“I think I just need another shot.” Merlin reached for the shot glass Gwaine had already poured but misjudged the distance and ended knocking it over.

“Swirly straw!” Elyan cried and Gwaine produced a blue curvy straw from out of nowhere. Merlin took it and proceeded to slurp the vodka up loudly.

The sound caught Arthur’s attention and he came over. “Did the three of you really just get wasted?”

“Don’t worry,” Merlin assured him solemnly, resting the straw on the table in front of him and folding his hands on top of it. “The worst that can happen is that something attacks us and I get killed or eaten or torn apart or something and the world is doomed. But I have faith that you won’t let that happen. I believe you won’t let me die.”

“Your faith in me is touching.” Arthur crinkled up his nose in confusion and then pointedly look away.

“I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to your sister,” Merlin immediately responded, but then burst out laughing like he was hilarious. “Just kidding, of course I meant you, Arthur. Morgana’s already upstairs with Lance.”

“I—,“ Arthur began but then sighed and shook his head. “I’m going to get you all some water.”

“No way,” Leon interrupted, appeared from out of nowhere. “Percival and I are here. Let’s coax Gwen to come over as well. She’s eating chips by herself, it’s sad.”

Merlin frowned at Gwen and climbed clumsily over Gwaine to stand on his feet. He leaned dangerously towards Arthur for a moment but regained his balance a moment later. He straightened himself out and then veered straight into Arthur, stumbling as the Earth shifted. Arthur grabbed him as he laughed into his chest. The legends never said how good he smelt. Wait. That was weird.

“Was that me or London?” he asked, deciding to focus on the fact the Earth had just moved under his feet.

“You, mate.”

Merlin pushed himself off Arthur and smiled sheepishly at him, “Sorry. I got this—honest.”

“You sure?” Arthur asked with a smile that was implied in the legends but Merlin never thought would be directed at him.

“Have some faith in me,” He laughed, hopefully not desperately, and he headed towards Gwen. It would go better if there weren’t so many chairs.

“Oh man, this is so fucked up,” Gwaine groaned behind him, leaning back in his seat. Arthur just turned and went upstairs. Merlin frowned but then Gwen was helping him onto a barstool and he got distracted by the chips.

 

*

 

The next morning Arthur climbed the stairs up to the flat as the Earth shook below him. It wasn’t terrible, he couldn’t really tell if he was moving but it was still shaking. The others were either downstairs or somewhere within a block radius. Percival had promised to help board up someone’s ground floor windows last night. Merlin still hadn’t gotten out of bed and Morgana had left breakfast to help him with his hangover a half hour ago now. So really, it wasn’t a big deal that he was going to check on them. No matter what Gwaine’s eyebrows had said. Merlin stumbled around her while Arthur remembered the sword plunging through her chest. The look in Merlin's eyes when her body thumped lifeless onto the forest floor.

 

Arthur had a hand against the shaking wall as he slowly made his way down the hall to the bedroom they were presumably in. However, Morgana’s voice stopped him in his tracks. She was speaking quietly from the room and he could only just make out her words over the rumble of the earth.

“I can prove it to you, if you like.”

Arthur’s heart was suddenly beating much faster for reasons that had nothing to do with the earthquake.

“No way,” Merlin laughed and Arthur pushed himself off the wall to see if someone needed his help anywhere.

 

Merlin sat next to Morgana whose hands were cupped out in front of her, water pooled in them. He gasped and she smiled. It was tight and strained but he was more interested in the fact she was making water appear out of thin air.

“And it just—appears when you say—” Merlin broke off and looked to her again, completely at a blank for the word that had come out of her mouth.

“Æwielm.” Morgana told him slowly, “Go on, try it.”

“I’m not magic,” he laughed but she whispered something under her breath and the water evaporated. Grabbing his hands gently, she made him cup them and then let go.

“Humour me.  Æwielm.”

Merlin looked down at his cupped hands and then back to her. Morgana, the evil ghost that haunted Camelot was trying to teach him how to use magic. This was so absurd. “Æwielm,” he said.

Of course nothing happened.

Morgana sighed, “You have to mean it, Merlin.”

“Æwielm.”

She glared at him and then placed her hands on the back of his, “Like this:  Æwielm.” Her eyes shone gold and water pooled into Merlin’s hand as his fingers tingled a little as if they were starting to fall asleep. “Did you feel it?”

“Uh—I think?”

Morgana frowned and almost like she was disappointed, said, “ádwín.” The water vanished from his hands, leaving them dry. Morgana turned away and lazily lifted her left hand and whispered something that made the books fly off the shelf and float around in circles in the air.

They watched the books in the air silently for several long moments in which the shaking finally came to an end.

 

“Is Guinevere alright?” Merlin finally asked.

“What do you mean?”

“When she left for breakfast, she looked exhausted.”

“I think she’s sitting downstairs reading, if you wanted to bring her some tea.” Morgana stood and offered him her hand. “Come on, I’ll heat some water for you. I could use a cup as well after all that shaking.”

Merlin took her hand to help him to his feet and followed her into the kitchen where they made tea in silence . Morgana took her cup back into the sitting room and Merlin took his and Guinevere’s downstairs to the deserted dining room. Guinevere had the books on a table in front of her and she glared at them like they could fix everything on their own.

“I made you tea.” Merlin smiled and held out the chipped mug, “Well, it’s your tea and Morgana heated the water for me, but I put the bag in?”

“Thank you, Merlin.” She laughed.

“What’s the matter?”

Guinevere sat down and took the proffered mug of tea. “It’s just… I have nightmares sometimes. Last night’s were particularly bad.”

Merlin sat next to her on the bench, making sure to stay a respectful distance away from the legendary queen. “Nightmares?”

Guinevere’s grip on the mug tightened and she shut her eyes briefly, steadying herself. “Back at Camlann, we had to leave without Arthur and… Emrys and the court physician. The three of them had gone missing, vanished, right into thin air.”

Guinevere looked to Merlin who quickly looked away and down at his own mug of tea.

“No one knew about Emrys’ magic then, only the court physician. But odd things happened around him and Arthur. Right before the battle at Camlann, Emrys went off. Arthur didn’t tell me where but I knew he would never really abandon Arthur, not at a time like that.” Guinevere was still studying his face and took a sip of her tea.

Merlin chanced a glance to her. “Emrys’ magic was a secret?”

Guinevere nodded sadly. “Magic was outlawed in Camelot.”

“But—“

“The legends seem to have warped things a bit. Magic wasn’t hidden, wasn’t lost, it was illegal and actively hunted.” Guinevere smiled, a tight lipped, regretful smile and then she carried on. “I was at Camelot, alone. And then one day Ga—the court physician came back. He told me that Arthur was wounded and Emrys was trying to save him. That’s when I figured it out. I asked him if Emrys had magic and he said yes. To think, that brave but reckless boy I met in the stocks turned out to be the most powerful sorcerer in all of Albion.”

“Ever. He was supposed to be the most powerful sorcerer ever.”

 

Guinevere’s eyes widened and she laughed, resting her mug on her thigh as she covered her mouth and composed herself. “Oh, just be glad Arthur isn’t here to hear that.”

“I’m not—,“ Merlin protested and Guinevere’s laughter faded.  

“I know, Merlin, I know.”

“Emrys didn’t save Arthur, did he? Or did the legends get that wrong too?”

 

Guinevere shook her head and pressed her lips together, looking into her tea.

“Morgana had survived the battle as well and had a spy in Camelot. We caught the spy and then Gwaine and Percival went after Morgana, whether to stop her from getting to Arthur or just out of revenge I never knew for certain. It was probably a little of both. The spy had been Gwaine’s girlfriend.”

 

Merlin gripped his own mug tightly to keep him tethered to reality. This was all so surreal. He slept in the same room as both of them. He watched them fight over the last of the crisps. He couldn’t imagine his—well, his friends—that’s what they were, he realized belatedly— he couldn’t imagine his friends riding off into battle.

Guinevere continued on. “We didn’t hear anything for, for days. And then Percival arrived back in Camelot, alone.”

Her voice trailed off and Merlin glanced up to see her eyes wide and filling with tears. He reached out and touched her hand gently. Guinevere smiled and put her mug on the table in front of her so she could wipe a few escaping tears away. She turned her other hand so that she could hold Merlin’s. “That’s what my nightmares are of. Percival coming back as some sort of Grim Reaper. A black cloak and his words—even now, even a thousand years later: I’m so sorry, Gwen, he’s gone. Arthur’s dead. So’s Gwaine.”

“What about Emrys? Why didn’t he stop it?” Merlin interrupted.

 

Guinevere’s hold on his hand tightened at his sharp tone. “He did everything in his power, believe me. He told me the story, years later; there was absolutely nothing he could do. The blade that had stuck Arthur’s heart was forged from dragon fire. There was no stopping it. In my nightmares, Emrys is dead too. A half-Percival, half-grim reaper comes to me, ‘your mother’s dead, your father’s dead, the King’s dead, Lancelot’s dead, Elyan’s dead, Gwaine’s dead, M—Emrys’s is dead, Arthur’s dead’. Every night. And I know—I know that they’re not, at least not anymore, but I was suddenly in charge of Camelot and I had been just a serving girl not ten years prior. A serving girl, Queen of Camelot with only the court physician, and the last of her husband’s knights, one a friend from childhood, the other the one to deliver the news, to stand with me.”

“What about Emrys?”

“Percival told me he was gone as well. We all thought he was dead and Percival never said anything differently. We mourned him. I rode out to his mother, told her that he had died protecting the king, that I would do my best to rid Camelot of her hatred of magic because magic couldn’t be evil when he had done so much good with it. Two years went by, I slowly weakened the laws against magic and then his mother arrived in Camelot with a stranger.”

Guinevere smiled at Merlin for a moment before continuing in the same soft tone. “I welcomed them into the council chambers, it was the just three of us and he lowered his hood and it was Emrys. It was one of the happiest days of my life. Seeing the look on Gaius’ face when he saw him again, seeing Leon and Percival’s smiles. And together, Emrys and I, over the next ten long years, took down the remaining laws against magic. He became my court sorcerer. Together we made a new Camelot.”

“The Golden Age.”

She nodded but smiled sadly, “I can never think of it as such, for me the golden age of Camelot was with Arthur, with Lancelot, Elyan and Gwaine. With Morgana. For me Camelot’s golden age isn’t a time, it’s little moments that the legends seem to have missed.”

“What did the people think of him seemingly coming back from the dead?”

“Both he and Camelot changed a lot in those two years. When he came back, everyone who knew his old identity kept it to themselves. The castle staff adored him.”

 

Merlin frowned and Guinevere sighed deeply. When he glanced up to her, she had a determined but reserved look on her face and he knew he wasn’t going to like what she was about to say. Guinevere covered Merlin’s hands with her own, softly, gently, she looked him in the eye but he only stared down to his left, studying the coffee rings left on the table.

“I know you don’t want to hear this but… you have his eyes, his smile, his way of making faces at Arthur when you think he’s not looking.  Merlin, don’t you think I of all people would know you? My court sorcerer.  Emrys was the name the druids gave you. Emrys is the name you used when you returned to Camelot. But we all knew you by a different name. Merlin.”

 

For a long couple of seconds, he acted as if he hadn’t heard her. Guinevere shifted in her seat and Merlin’s eyes shot up to her face.

“Oh fuck.” The words tumbled from his mouth and his body tensed up. The woman tightened her grip on his hands but he pulled them away. He was on his feet a second later, hands moving at his sides as if in a silent conversation. Merlin paced back and forth for a few long moments before he stopped, looked over everyone and then spun around and fled from the room.

 

Arthur, who was just now walking into the room with his sister, went to go after him but Guinevere’s voice stopped him immediately. “Let him go. It’s hard remembering everything—especially for him, Arthur. Think about it. The last time he saw you, you had just found out about his magic, and then he couldn’t save you. The last time he saw you, he watched you die.”

“That’s not his—“

“We know Arthur, but it’s going to be hard for him, just like it was for all of us coming to terms with this.”

“I remember someone showing up at my flat at four in the morning, banging on the door until someone let you in and then banging on my door until I opened it. You scared me and everyone within a mile radius half to death. We sat up until the afternoon, remember?” Morgana told him gently.

Arthur remembered Merlin’s face. He remembered lying in bed with his sister remembering Merlin’s face. He would give anything to help lessen the pain for him.

# *

 

Merlin sat on the wet floor on the antique shop, amongst the shattered glass and debris. The sun hadn’t quite risen yet, causing long shadows to twist around the shattered beams. His hands tightly gripped his hair and why did they say he was Emrys? He wasn’t a wizard? He was Merlin—just Merlin.

That thought forced him to open his eyes. Was he Harry bloody Potter? Just Merlin. Merlin Stanton.  Not Merlin the sorcerer. He held out his hand like Morgana had showed him and tried to will water to appear.

Nothing.

He sighed. They were confused. Maybe he just looked like him? What if he was his descendant with an unfortunate familiar resemblance?

A bolt of pain shot through his arm, causing him to flinch. He glanced to it and checked himself for signs of injury but there were none. Great. He pulled his legs in and rested them on his knees. Just what he needed—phantom pains.

“Are you alright?” Merlin’s head snapped up at the sound of an old man’s voice. He caught his eye and the man gasped. “Merlin?”

“Gaius! I’ve been looking for you! I’ve come to bring you home. My mother’s so worried—“ Merlin was on his feet before he even really realized it.

He held up his hands to calm him down. “You came all this way alone?”

Merlin nodded. “I thought it was safest not to attract attention.”

“I know your father and there’s no way he’d let you come here alone.”

“I snuck out the night before we were heading out.”

“Merlin. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?”

 

“I met a dragon.” He blurted out and Gaius only raised an eyebrow. “He said I had to find the wizard Emrys. He gave me a spell that would point me towards help. I followed it and it led me to Queen Guinevere and her knights. But then they said that I was Emrys and—I’m not. I can’t be. I don’t have magic.”

 

“Merlin.” Gaius said calmly, and Merlin suddenly remembered the man sitting beside him when he was young with a splinter in his knee, inconsolable in his pain.

 

“Here—It’s true. He gave me a ring.” Merlin handed Gaius the ring. The second it touched Gaius’ palm, the beam shifted directions. It vibrated with even more intensity as if the others had suddenly teleported to somewhere around the corner.

 

“What?” He blurted out. “But it’s a tracking spell! The dragon said it would point me in the direction Gwen and the others.”

Gaius studied the ring silently for a moment and then glanced up to him, “What did the dragon say, exactly?”

“That it’d lead me to where I needed to be.”

“It must tell that for every person who touches it.”

“What, like the compass from Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Gaius sighed and then looked Merlin in the eye. “Are you sure you want to go home?”

“I have to. My parents are worried enough as it is.” He glanced at Gaius, he wasn’t young and the trip had been hard on Merlin who was years younger than him. “Unless you want to stay in the city.”

“No. We’ll return together.” Gaius looked to the ring again. “I do want to see where that leads me though. Get something to use as protection and then we’ll find out.”

“What makes you think I’ll be about to protect us with a broken piece of wood?”

“If you want to fight off wyvern with your bare hands, go ahead. I just thought it’d be a nice alternative, give us some kind of chance.”

“I don’t know what that is but fine.” Merlin rummaged through the wreckage for something he could use as a weapon and then he and Gaius started off towards where the ring lead them. The beam vibrated with more intensity with each step they took  which meant their destination was literally just around the corner.

As they rounded the corner, Merlin didn’t quite know what to expect—someone in danger or some kind of clue as to what was going on. But the beam pointed to an abandoned car. Gaius walked around it to continue towards the building behind it but it turned, fixated on the car. He hummed under his breath and held the ring up to the back window. From the other side of the car, Merlin watched as it pointed to an abandoned bag of groceries in the back seat. Specifically the jaffa cakes.

“Wait, you’re needed at this box of jaffa cakes?” Merlin asked blankly.

Gaius raised an eyebrow “Maybe it leads you to what your heart most desires? They are my favorite.”

A sick feeling swooped through Merlin’s chest. “Absolutely not. Here, I’ll smash the window to get them out for you and we’re off.”

# *

 

Lance and Gwaine returned from searching for Merlin alone, both looking sick.

“He’s gone.”  
“What do you mean, ‘gone’?”

“He ran away?”

“No. He’s the bravest man I’ve ever known, this life or the last. He wouldn’t just run away.”

But Merlin was nowhere to be found. He had vanished completely.

“What if he’s dead? What if he ran out there and got himself killed?” somewhere in the back of his mind, Arthur had the feeling he was acting hysterical but Merlin had vanished into thin air.

“He’s Merlin. Nothing back can happen to him, that isn’t the way things work.” Percival tried to assure him but Arthur just rounded on him.

“Just because something should happen doesn’t mean it will. Life isn’t a story book.”

Morgana stood and crossed her arms. “Should we just keep looking for him?”

“Yes.” Arthur picked up the metal pipe he favoured as a weapon. “Who’s coming?”  

“Finish breakfast first,” Deborah frowned as she piled bread and hard boiled eggs, cheese, roasted tomatoes and apples onto their plates. “Has he gone back to his Uncle’s shop?”

“He hasn’t,” Gwen sighed, picking up an apple slice and then putting it back down onto her plate. “He hasn’t gone to any of the local shelters either. We went out looking for him early this morning. Gwaine and Lance have been out twice now.”

“No one’s seen him. We’ve asked literally everyone.” Lance sighed, exhausted.

“I can ask around tonight. Are you all staying the night again? The flat isn’t being used, you’re all more than welcome to. I only ask for some help down here. I got a list of chores a mile long that I’d love help with.”

“Of course we’re not going to ditch you so soon, Deborah, not when you’ve been so welcoming.”

“You just don’t want Johnny phoning your Mum when service comes back.”

Gwaine made a show at being affronted and the others made an attempt at laughter. They finished eating, Deborah frowned over the food left untouched, and then they went back on the streets.

 

The air hung thick and warm around them and Arthur wanted to scream. He held a metal pipe in his hand, just in case, and it was laughable in comparison to his sword, to Excalibur. What a joke this all was. Everyone kept saying he was the Once and Future King but he didn’t hold any kind of power.

They had spread out into different groups. With him were Elyan and Percival. They both followed everything he suggested immediately and he didn’t want their blind trust.

“How annoyed do you reckon Merlin’s going to be when he remembers who he is?” Percival laughed, stopping and pointing to a street sign laying half in the road. Arthur stepped in and took one end as he took the other and together they moved it out of the way of the street and sidewalk.

Instead of answering the question, Arthur posed one of his own to Elyan. “Does the lack of police mean they’re busy elsewhere, or does it mean there’s not a lot of people left?”

“By now shelters are taking precedent. I’m sure we’re just focusing our strength and we aren’t patrolling as much.”

“We could just be missing patrols too.” Percival added and Elyan nodded in agreement with him.

“Are you going to go back and help?” Arthur asked Elyan who straightened his back and fixed him with an even stare.

“I’m helping here. I told you before I’m throwing my lot in with you.”

“But—”

“No buts, Arthur. Percival’s a bartender, Leon’s a personal trainer, your sister’s a law student and Gwen works in a bakery. You need me.”

“I work in an animal shelter,” Arthur protested. That didn’t make him equipped to handle all of this.

“Exactly. You don’t have to bring everything to the table yourself. That’s why we’re all here. You need all of us. You need Merlin and Morgana’s magic. You need your compassion. You’re a natural leader and that doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself. You just have to lead us. To keep us in line. We all trust you and frankly I’m offended you think we’re idiots for doing so.”

“I’m not going to stop thinking it.”

“Well, then I’m just going to have to save the world offended.”

Percival rolled his eyes but then stopped to look at Arthur with a raised eyebrow, “Did you abandon your pet shelter?”

“I live in Edinburgh.”

He nodded slowly and then they both noticed that Elyan was trying to knock a haphazardly hanging traffic light down. Percival waved his hand, indicating he had it under control and went over to him. Arthur turned around continued down the street, his eyes on the windows in the buildings around him. Merlin could be in any of the buildings. Asleep or hurt or just away from the windows. Arthur sighed and a breeze swept over him, warm with a chill, like the first hint of fall. He shut his eyes and there was a loud crash behind him.

Arthur spun around and—nothing. The two knights were nowhere in sight.

“Percival?” he called, running back to where he last saw them, standing at the intersection. “Elyan?” He turned to look at the traffic light, now lying smashed on the concrete, and studied it trying to see  if it was cursed or whatever. He looked into the red bulb, half expecting to see his friends peering out at him.

Of course it was dull and empty.

He ran off to search the surrounding areas but the streets were silent.

“Arthur?” Gwen shouted suddenly, her eyes looking past him towards where her brother and Percival should be. Arthur hadn’t even noticed her approach.

“They’re not here.” Panic laced his voice and he threw his arms around to encompass the surrounding area.

“What?”

“They’re not here! I don’t know where they are I looked but—they’re gone. There’s no sign of them. They were behind me but they’re gone.”

He threw the pipe onto the ground and then ran his hands through his hair, growling in frustration.

“I—,” Gwen began and looked to Leonnext to her.

“It was ten seconds at most. People can’t just vanish.”

“Unless they can. Unless that’s what happened to Merlin as well.”  Leon’s voice was quiet, like he was afraid he was right.

“Don’t,” Arthur and Gwen snapped at once and he stepped back, his hands up.

“Why are you here? Where are the others?”

“Morgana, Lance and Gwaine went back towards Gaius’ shop. We heard the screaming and came right over.”

“Screaming?” Arthur asked, his nose scrunched up.

“...you didn’t hear it?”

He could feel his face go pale and he threw the pipe to the ground again. It bounced and rolled away from him. “Let’s go find the others. What did the screaming sound like? Was it—”

“It was a woman.”

As Arthur started walking, Leon hurried to keep pace with him. Gwen, however, stayed put.

“Gwen, we have to get the others—”

“My brother is gone. Elyan, Percival and Merlin are missing. I have to do something.”

“They vanished on the streets. What are we supposed to do?”

“Find a clue or—something. We have to do something!”

“Maybe Morgana’s magic can help.”

Gwen looked around again. “I think they heard the screaming and ran to help. They have to be right here. People just don’t vanish into thin air.”

Stalking down the street, Arthur and Leon could do nothing but follow after her as she called her brother and Percival’s name.

Gwen screamed for all three of them for the better part of the morning before Arthur and Leon could drag her back to The Royal Charlie. Lance was waiting outside for them.

“What’s wrong?”

“Elyan and Percival are missing.”

“What?”

Gwen wrapped her arms around him and rested her forehead on his chest and made a small broken sound of frustration. Lance wrapped his arms around her as well and looked down the street as if expecting something to come towards them right that second.

“Come on, you’re exhausted, Gwen.”

As soon as she entered the pub, Morgana swept over to them and guided Gwen up the stairs. Arthur and Lance followed behind them. Arthur got her a cup of tea that Morgana heated up without looking and Gwen held the cup in her hands.

Without warning, she screamed and threw the metal cup at the wall. Her hands covered her face and she sunk to the ground sobbing. “What are we supposed to do?”

“Guinevere—” Arthur gasped but she ignored him.   
“The world is falling apart around us and we are powerless to stop it.” She rested her forehead on the ground and let out a shuddering breath, “What are we supposed to do?”

# *

 

Freya raced out of the house, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Merlin!” she cried, throwing her arms around him.

“Are you alright? Is it my parents? Will?”

“No, you twat. Everyone’s fine. You ran off and we all thought for sure you had gotten yourself killed. And not only that—I’ve remembered Camelot.”

Merlin sat down on the garden bench roughly. “Camelot?”

Freya wiped at her tears, “You haven’t?”

“I was in Camelot?” Merlin asked numbly. Hearing it from strangers was one thing, but to have it come from his friends was something else entirely.

“Yes, you were the Prince’s manservant.”

“Excuse me I was the what?”

Next to him, Gaius chuckled and went towards the house when the sound of shattering glass rang out. Merlin and Freya turned towards the sound. Hunith emerged from the house a moment later. She hugged Gaius quickly and then ran over to her son.

“Merlin, what on Earth were you thinking running off on your own? Your father and Freya went after you but had to turn back around after a couple of days.”

“I didn’t want you to follow me.”

“You’re an idiot for thinking we wouldn’t.” Freya told him, but the harshness of her voice was ruined by the fact she was still crying in relief.

Hunith let him go and Balinor, whose approach Merlin hadn’t noticed, wrapped his son up in a hug as well.

“Your mother and I were worried sick.”

“I had to go,” Merlin explained.

“Gaius would have been fine.”

“The shop and the flat are completely destroyed. When we got there I thought for sure we were too late. We searched everywhere.”

“We?” Hunith asked immediately.

“Oh um—I ran into... some people and—”

“Arthur?” Hunith asked and Merlin frowned.

“Excuse me, mum?”

“Arthur? It was him wasn’t it?”

Merlin glanced from her to his father to Freya and Gaius and then to Will who was just now coming out of the house before slowly admitting, “A dragon told me that I had to find...uh—him and it gave me this ring—.” He pulled it out of his coat pocket and watched as the beam made everyone flinch away. He put it away and sighed before continuing, “I found him and the others—Guinevere, Morgana, a bunch of knights…”

“What did they say?” Hunith asked, and she knew Arthur he didn’t know what to do with this information.

“Say? About what?” he asked.

Hunith bit her lip and looked to Balinor who wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “They helped you find Gaius.”

“I left. Gaius found me. We came right here.”

“You... just left them? They let you go?”

“I left before they were awake.”

“That’s a real shitty habit, mate,” Will told him, crossing his arms.

Merlin rolled his eyes. “I know I have to go back. For some terrible reason everyone—apparently even my own family—thinks they need me. They’re completely clueless on their own without my help, thanks.”

“Merlin…” Gaius began but trailed off.

 

Merlin shut his eyes for a second and when he opened them he said, “Enough people have told me that I was Emrys that I know something’s up. But I don’t remember anything and so I can’t go around saying that I’m him or that I know what to do because from where I’m standing I’m not and I don’t.”

Hunith hugged him for what felt like the tenth time in as many minutes but he hugged her back.

“Memories or not, that doesn’t change your worth.”

Merlin pulled away and Hunith turned her sights on Gaius. She fussed over him and lead him into the house with Balinor and Freya, protesting loudly.

“Come on, mister adventure, rumor has it the local Primark’s been recently abandoned and I want something other than rice for a change.”

 

Merlin followed Will out of the garden and down to the street. Things hadn’t changed much here. It was like he hadn’t left at all. Hadn’t left for London to find Emrys. Hadn’t left for University.

“And where do the  two of you think you’re going?”

“Grocery shopping, sweetheart,” Will called back and Merlin glanced back to see Freya flip the both of them off from the edge of the garden, but she caught his eye and her silent be careful was perfectly clear.

She needn’t have worried. Nothing out of the ordinary happened at all and they had even decided that—fuck it—they were taking a shortcut through the woods. Primark was, as advertised, completely abandoned. Someone had raided a large chunk of the pharmacy department but the food was still largely intact.

“You’re sure no one’s running this place anymore?” Merlin asked, pushing an empty trolley in front of him.

“Yeah. But it like just happened so that’s why no one’s picked it clean yet.”

“Why even go to shops and pay for things? Why not just wait for places to be abandoned?”

“We sort of want society to put itself back together, not fall apart more. I will trade for things if it means we get closer—or at least not farther away—from credit cards. Not that it isn’t flawed as hell but we need to fix the world, not fuck it up further.”

Merlin sighed and Will took it as agreement and they split up, each with a trolley. When they met up about twenty minutes later it was clear who was thinking clearly. Merlin could see rice and beans and canned soup in Will’s cart. Merlin’s didn’t quite have the same goal.

“What’s the wine for, mate?”

“Freya said I was the Prince’s manservant. As in Arthur. As in a complete and total moron and a clotpole.”

“Um, I’m a little afraid to ask, but what’s a clotpole?”

“I just said Arthur was one,” Merlin nudged the sliding doors open and pulled his trolley out, Will following carefully behind him.

“The definition of clotpole is Arthur,” Will clarified.

Merlin paused to raise his eyebrows and nod like it was obvious.

“Did you fill the cart with all the wine left then?”

“It was hardly touched. I filled up the trolley but there was still a ton left.”

“Good man.”

Merlin and Will made their way through the woods, Merlin’s trolley filled to the brim with wine and prepackaged sandwiches. Will’s had actual food that would last more than a few days. They travelled mostly silently. Will overturned his cart once on a tree root and Merlin made them stop for fifteen minutes because he thought he saw a dragon and they were going to have words but they reached the Stanton residence without running into anything supernatural or not.

 

“Mostly it’s quiet,” Will explained as they unloaded their shopping and packed most of the sandwitches up for Hunith and Balinor to deliver to people around town. Freya caught up with them when they had gathered several bottles of wine (one of each to be precise) and went to camp out in Merlin’s bedroom. They silently passed the bottles back and forth, talking about everything from how much trouble they might be in for stealing once the world got its act back together to how pissed Will and Freya still were at Merlin for sneaking off in the middle of the night.

 

Will eventually fell silent, which was never a good sign and didn’t look anywhere near Merlin as he said, “I think I died for the Prince.”

Merlin nearly choked on his drink, he lowered it roughly and the wine sloshed around in the bottle. “But he’s an ass!”

Will shrugged, picking at the worn duvet cover, “An ass who was worth dying for apparently.”

Merlin tilted the bottle back and took several large gulps before lowering the bottle and shuddering with a grimace.

“You alright?” Freya asked.

“I hate merlot.”

“Why’d you get it then?”

“You can’t be picky in the apocalypse.”

Will scowled at him, “We could have gone to Hastings and gone to a store that was actually still open if none of Primark’s wine is to your liking.”

Merlin sighed and took another sip out of the bottle he had evidently claimed as his own, “It takes the adventure out of apocalypse wine.”

“I’m going to start a winery,” Will declared.

“I get five percent royalties.”

Freya laughed, “For coming up with the name?”

“And for being his best mate.” Merlin sighed heavily. “I should have brought you with me.”

“…to London? Because, yeah, I agree.”

“Not London. Camelot.”

“…Camelot?”

“Yeah. You probably would have died sooner but...I don’t know. Maybe you wouldn’t have. Maybe I could have convinced you and Arthur to train you as a knight. Gwaine wasn’t of royal birth and Arthur fought for him to be knighted. At the very least you could have learned how to protect yourself.” He sighed, swirling the wine left in the bottle around sloppily. He watched as Will tried to come up with a protest but he didn’t want to hear it. “I met Queen Guinevere in London.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah. She’s nice. She told me I was Emrys which is ridiculous.”  He took a long sip of wine, “Gaius had a picture of the two of us, him and Aunt Alice posing with Emrys and Queen Guinevere at home. It’s probably destroyed by now. Maybe it has the real Guinevere’s footprint on it.” He frowned and took another gulp of wine. “I can’t believe I forgot I was Arthur’s manservant.”

Freya glanced to Will and then asked, “What was it like being Arthur’s manservant?”

“There is not enough time in the day for me to accurately describe what a colossal headache keeping him alive was,” he sighed. “I’m going to have to go back to London soon to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed in my absence. I could never leave him alone for very long.”

Merlin sighed, weary. It was going to be a pain in the ass to find Emrys and keep King Prat Pendragon alive.

 

*

 

Gwaine hadn’t said anything for the past five minutes and Arthur should have taken it as a sign that he was thinking too much.

“I’m sure he’s okay,” Gwaine assured him in a tone of voice Arthur didn’t even want to begin to decipher.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He was your best friend, of course you’re worried about him. I’m worried about him. I’d go after him if I knew where the hell he went.”

Arthur glanced to him from the corner of his eye, “You did that a lot, back then.”

“I always came back,” Gwaine mused and then lightly added, “Did you know Morgana killed me?”

Arthur flinched but then just sort of shrugged, “Merlin killed her.”

“Really? She’s so kind to him.”

“You’re kind to my sister.”

“I don’t turn my back to her. I don’t trust her.”

“She doesn’t trust us either. Not completely. She’s still looking for Agravaine, Morgause, Mordred.”

“Everything turned out to be such a mess.” Gwaine sighed.

“I almost prefer now because it hurts less.”

“No one’s kicked it yet, either.”

“If something does… you’ll watch after them?”

“Of course. You don’t have to worry about that.” Gwaine was quiet for a moment then continued. “You know, after all the messed up things we faced, I think most of us ended up offing each other?”

“Are you trying to make me feel better or worse?”

Gwaine didn’t answer, he just drowned his drink in one go. Arthur raised his glass to his lips but put it down again, resting it against the balcony railing.

“He’s done something stupid. Again.”

Gwaine sighed and then threw the can clear across the street. It bounced off the building across from them, coming to a stop in a pile of shattered concrete.

“Just because it’s the end of the world, that doesn’t mean you can litter.”

Both Arthur and Gwaine flinched at the sudden interruption and they looked down to see who had yelled at them.

It was Merlin who stood in the middle of the street.

A loud commotion sounded from downstairs, a combination of screams and chairs scraping against the wood floors, as Arthur tried to find his breath again. Gwaine hit him in the chest as if he could have missed him.

Gwen surged forward out of the pub to get her hands on him, “Where have you been? We’ve been so worried—you stormed out and then just vanished. We couldn’t find you.”

The woman standing at Merlin’s side elbowed him sharply in the side. He sheepishly glanced to her and then looked to Gwen and the others. “Gaius found me. We went back home. But I’m back now. It was stupid of me to leave in the first place.”

“You remember?”

“Well, no, but hopefully I’ll remember soon!” There was a forced cheeriness that bordered on hysteria in his voice and Arthur wished he could do this without him.  He wanted to sweep him away from all of this. Sweep him up and stick him on a cruise somewhere or an island or the bloody moon. Merlin deserved rest, he deserved not to be weighed down by all he had to do. By all that had happened. Gwen had sat Arthur down and spoken to him at length, it had revealed so many things. Merlin’s father had been the Dragonlord who had died in his arms. There had been a girl who Arthur had killed who Merlin had planned to run away with, live a normal life with.

 

“Well, I’m dead,” his laugh was breathy, mostly a sigh, a resignation.

 

Merlin’s eyes instantly narrowed and for a brilliant millisecond, flashed gold. “Shut the fuck up Arthur Pendragon,” he all but hissed and Arthur was hit with the memory of Merlin sobbing hysterically and clinging to him, telling him he was going to be okay, even as Arthur felt the life slip from him. He had to get Merlin out of here before he remembered. Arthur had never seen anyone so wretched. He wondered if the girl Merlin had loved was in this life as well, if he could find her and send her and Merlin off to be happy somewhere that wasn’t this mess.

 

But no, Merlin was loyal and trusting and so damn brave and he had come back to fight a battle he didn’t understand, play a role he didn’t remember. Did he even know he had magic? There had definitely been a spark of gold in his eyes but was he aware of it? Was that what Gwen had meant when she said his eyes turned gold?

“You don’t remember but you believe us all of a sudden?” he called down, skeptically.

“Freya says she remembers and also that I was your manservant.”

“Well, yeah,” Arthur said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Like Emrys would be a servant.

“And since Freya remembers it must be true?” Gwaine added.

Merlin looked to the woman at his side like to question it was heresy. “Yes? We’ve been friends since the beginning of Uni, what does she get out of making it up? Will remembers too and we’ve been friends since we were toddlers.”

“Just because you’ve known someone since you were children, doesn’t mean they’re never going to turn on you,” Arthur reminded him. Merlin’s eyes immediately went to Morgana and he frowned.

 

He sighed loudly then looked at Arthur with narrowed eyes, shaking his head slowly. "I must have wanted to curse you all the time," Arthur recoiled as if Merlin has physically stuck him, his eyes wide and hurt. Merlin puts his arms up as if he were going to reach out to Arthur and draw him back, "Oh no—no. I didn't mean that. I'm sure I probably thought you were the best king—the greatest king in all of Albion even."

“Quit it with the flirting,” Gwaine interrupted. “Is it bad out there?”

“Yes, but probably no more so than anywhere else.”

“Have you seen Deborah yet? She’s worried sick about you.”

“Deborah?” Freya asked quietly from behind him.

“She owns the pub, I think?” Merlin told her before Lance took him by the elbow and dragged him back inside.

“Speak of the devil and all that.” Gwaine laughed as soon as the others all went back inside. Arthur rested his arms on the railing and put his head down.

  


The next morning Gwaine woke them all up with news of ‘some shit going down across town’. Everyone turned to Arthur and he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, watching all of them evenly. “You had to bring a mess with you, didn’t you, Merlin? We should bring our things, I don’t think we’re going to get back here tonight.”

“Pack my things, Perce,” Gwaine didn’t look back as he did an about face and flew back down that stairs to the pub.

“So does he fancy her or what?” Freya whispered, looking around the room.

“He definitely fancies her. It’s embarrassing,” Lance whispered back and Freya laughed and then cooed.

 

‘Some shit going down across town’ turned out to be an honest to god skeleton army. When they first saw movement at the end of the street, Merlin laughed nervously and Morgana blurted out that someone must be having a go at them.

It went downhill rather quickly. Although some of them looked completely ridiculous, skeletons wearing bits and pieces of armour, Gwen could remember the terror that had been the attack on Camelot. And it wasn’t only that—not all of the skeletons were decked out in armour. They were more than she would like to see wearing fine dresses and suits and several that fell closer to ‘zombie’ than ‘skeleton’.

It was one of the newer corpses that had Freya screaming and Gwen rushed to her side. They ducked behind an abandoned car to escape it and when they looked up the others were blocked off by a hoard.

 

“This is a joke, right.” Freya whispered and Gwen glanced to the girl. She looked young and exhausted, here only because of her loyalty to Merlin.

Gwen grabbed Freya’s arm and pulled her back and around a corner. “Come on. We’ll go around.”

“Shit—I don’t like this.”

“Me neither—hurry.”

The pair tore down the street, Freya kept glancing to the buildings, praying that someone would see them and let them in. They had to get off the streets. She hadn’t seen them force their way inside yet—so far she had only witnessed them attacking people—namely her and her friends—on the street.

“Here—,” Gwen grabbed her arm and pulled her into a grocery store. They fumbled around with the door for a moment before Gwen gave up. “A lock isn’t going to do any good. It’s glass.”

With Freya at her heels, she tore deeper into the store. Glass shattered in their wake and they both ran towards the door labeled Employees Only.

Colliding into it, Freya tried the knob only to find it was locked. Gwen banged on it, “Let us in—please! Let us—”

Freya pulled her back—there were skeletons getting close to them and Gwen nearly slipped to the floor as she ran after Freya. They darted down an aisle and then stopped—skeletons rounded the other corner and without hesitating, Gwen made a running leap for the shelves and she scaled them to the top without stopping. She turned around to help Freya up and was nearly hit in the face by several containers of aluminum foil.

“They’re the longest thing I could find!” she gasped, reaching up. Gwen grabbed her and yanked her up. Freya scrambled for purchase and her eyes went wide as a skeleton grabbed her foot. She kicked wildly, somehow landing such a blow that its head rocketed into the air and landed several aisles over.

Gwen pulled her up and Freya wrenched her foot out of the skeleton’s grasp and stood on the top of the shelving unit with Gwen.

 

“Out of all the mystical things that could be attacking London right now, why did it have to be a skeleton army?”

“I had to face them in Camelot too.”

“Really? How did you defeat it?”

“How do you think?” Gwen shouted as she blocked the skeleton’s reach.

“Merlin,” Freya growled and balanced herself on top of the shelf to push at the tile ceiling.

“Will that hold our weight?” Gwen held the aluminum foil container tightly in her hands, raised ready to strike at the next hand that came towards them.

“I honestly don’t know.” She slid the tile over, “How else are we going to get out of this? How do you defeat skeletons? Can you crush them? Burn them? I wish we had cell service, we could call the others to distract them while we made a run for it.”

“What we have to do is destroy them so they can’t hurt anyone else.”

“But think of the poor people whose bones they are. We need to break whatever curse is on them so that we can put them back to rest.”

Gwen sighed, “We can’t burn them anyway because we can’t risk the food. It’s too vital for survival.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw movement by the employees only door and gasped when she saw a teenager poking his head out, looking terrified. “Over there.” She whispered to Freya as she locked eyes with the boy.

 

He looked from her to the skeletons and nodded determinedly.

“Okay, so how do we get to him?” Freya knocked another skeleton away with such force the entire shelving unit threatened to topple over. Gwen grabbed her, looked at the skeletons in the store—there were less than twenty and they were all gathered in the two isles they were in between, there was a clear shot to the door as long as they could outrun the skeletons. The shelf was lined with crisps on one side and pasta sauces on the other.

“Do you think we can run for it?”

“As long as we don’t slip or the shelves give way.”

Gwen looked to her and grabbed her hand. “Don’t stop running.”

“Same goes for you.”

Freya knocked another skeleton off, they had realized they could climb by now to get a better angle and started creeping down the shelf. “Ready?” she asked Gwen who nodded and squeezed her hand. “Now!”

 

Together, they raced down the top of the isle. Crisp bags burst under Gwen’s feet, threatening to send her crashing down and glass jars shattered in the isle on Freya’s side. Without warning Freya screamed and her hand slipped from Gwen’s. The force of Freya falling sent Gwen tumbling to the ground as well. She caught herself, however and continued to sprint down the aisle, turning when she reached the end, intent on getting to the other woman, no matter what she had said.

Freya all but ran into her though and she dragged Gwen towards the door, where the teenager was watching them with wide, terrified eyes and holding the door open for them.

They flew inside and he slammed the door shut, locking it and then pushing tables and chairs in front of it.

“Holy shit that was insane,” He gasped, turning to them. In the room with him was an older woman and another teenage boy.

Freya sighed and collapsed to the ground. “I’m never doing the shopping again after this.”

The woman chuckled and came over to check on them. “Are you two alright, are you hurt?”

“Some scratches and bruises but nothing to worry about. How about you, Gwen?”

“I’m fine. We need to get back to the others though. Is there a back door?”

“You can’t go out—the city is overrun with zombies,” the others both told them, looking horrified at the very thought.

“You have to stay safe—I’m sure your friends found some shelter of their own.”

“We have to stop it.”

“You know how?”

“No, but we can trap them at least. If not all of them then some. There are things we can be doing to help and I can’t stay where it’s safe when people are in danger.”

They watched Gwen evenly for a moment before the first teenager lead them out of the break room and down a back hall to a metal door. “Here. Be careful.”

“Thank you.  You too.”

Gwen pushed open the door to see skeletons at the far end of the street but a quick peek around showed that the other end was clear. She reached back, grabbed Freya’s hand and gave the boy one last smile before she and Freya crept out and onto the street. There was no sound of the door locking behind them, presumably the boy was giving them time to come running back. Which, good. They might have to.

Staying close to the buildings, Gwen and Freya made their way to the other end of the street where they ducked out of sight.

“Okay,” Gwen sighed as Freya looked around for danger. “We were headed this way before we got separated so--,” She took off running and Freya followed close behind her. Screams echoed through the air every once in a while and eventually they could hear Morgana casting spells.

“Found them,” Freya sighed and then reached into a shattered window display to pull out two golf clubs.

“Oh, that’s convenient.”

“Don’t complain.”

Gwen laughed, an exhausted edge to her voice, and the two of them rounded the corner and went back several hundred years to the kind of battle Gwen last saw when she was Queen.

Gwaine and Leon stood back to back, fighting off the skeletons that did nothing but climb back to their feet. Arthur, wielding a stop sign that threatened to topple him over, saw them almost immediately and they swatted the skeletons away to reach the others.

Gwen looked over all the others and something was wrong—”Where’s Merlin?”

“Lost him,” Lance grunted.

“What the hell do you mean Merlin’s missing again?” Gwen screamed and next to her Arthur got the sign caught in the ribcage of a still-decaying corpse.

“When we find him, I’m going to kill him.” Arthur growled, trying to yank the sign out of the corpse.

 

*

 

He was with them one second and the next they were gone. Merlin paused to look wildly around him and then ran off down a side street. Several skeletons appeared at the other end of the street and Merlin swore darkly under his breath. He turned around and ran back the way he had come, there was a mob headed towards him, but he turned a sharp left and sprinted down the street, trying to outrun them 

 

A wild, terrified screaming started from ahead of him and his stomach dropped at how young she sounded. The girl who was screaming couldn’t be more than five or six. Running, desperately to try to get to her in time, Merlin nearly skidded off his feet as he rounded the corner and saw her pressed up against the cold steel of a shop front gate. Skeletons were approaching her from the other side of the road and Merlin all but flung himself down the pavement to get to her. 

“Come on—” he gasped, grabbing her hand and tugging. 

When he turned around he saw that they were cornered. The girl was sobbing now, holding onto his hand tightly. He turned back to her, his back to the skeletons and watched as several lunged at him from the reflection of her glasses. 

The little girl ducked down and covered her head, screaming again in terror. Merlin shielded her with his body. Instead of attacking however, the skeletons were suddenly blown backwards. Merlin gaped at the tiny girl in his arms. There was no one else around. It had to have been her. She looked up at him in shock and—her eyes were gold. 

“Oh,” He gasped and the world settled down onto his shoulders. He picked her up and started racing in the direction of the nearest shelter. He had been too late last time. Morgana had taken his magic and it had taken him too long to get it back. He wouldn’t let it be the same this time as well. He wouldn’t regain his memories and then have it be too late to save his friends. He had to get the girl to safety and then get back to the others and Arthur— Arthur .

Kilgarrah had been right.

He was alive.

He was  back . 

Merlin had spoken to him—called him a prat and a whole multitude of names. Arthur had been  pissed he didn’t remember. Did he still hate him for lying about his magic? 

No sooner had the doors of the shelter opened for him when a woman screamed “Ayana!” and the little girl was swept from his arms. 

 

Merlin grabbed a piece of newspaper and burnt his number and address into it and pushed it into Ayana’s hands. “I’ll be back, but if you have to leave this is how you can find me. Don’t be afraid.”

Ayana stared up at him, newspaper clenched tightly in her hands, the beginning of a smile on her face. Merlin gently touched her arm and smiled in a way that he hoped came off as reassuring and not completely panicked before he turned and raced out of the shelter. Ayana’s ‘ Mum I have to tell you a super cool secret’ followed him out onto the street. 

 

He reached into his coat pocket and slipped the ring on . He could feel the magic coursing within it and he shot off down the street before the beam had a chance to appear. 

 

*

 

A wave rushed over the room and Arthur looked around wildly, Morgana was slowly pushing herself up, gingerly, her hand on her side. The blast of magic couldn’t have been her. A small gasp sounded from his other side and Arthur turned to see Gwen standing there, hand over her mouth, eyes wide. There was no terror on her face, only shock. Arthur turned to see what she was looking at and his stomach dropped the same second his heart swelled. 

Merlin stood above the rubble, Lancelot and Gwaine standing behind him. Lancelot wore a look of concern but Gwaine had the smirk that he always wore when he knew he was going to win. Merlin’s eyes were gold and his hand was outstretched in front of him, a light was starting to form in his palm. “Arthur, Gwen, move,” he called, his voice was rough and it wavered but it was determined. 

“A hell of a time to remember,” Gwaine laughed. 

Merlin ignored him, his eyes shining golden in the afternoon light. He held both his hands out for a minute before shouting, “ álæteaþ bánfatu fram þæm galdre .”

Immediately the skeletons collapsed into nothing more than a pile of bones. Merlin kept his hands outstretched as his eyes faded back to blue. It looked like he didn’t quite know what he had just done. 

 

“Merlin?” Arthur called, taking a step towards him but stopping at the familiarity with which he glanced back to Gwaine and Lance. 

“I didn’t know that was going to work,” he confessed with a laugh.  

“It’s going to be hell burying them all again,” Freya quipped lightly but looked like she was up for performing the task herself. She turned to Merlin. “And where the hell have you been? Gwen and I could have used you when we were trapped on the top shelf in Primark.” 

“What happened to the two of you?”

“We just got cornered, nothing serious.” 

Lance frowned at the cadence in his girlfriend’s voice, “That’s not funny. You’re alright?”

“We’re fine, promise. A little shaken up but that’s the new status quo for everyone.”

“Where the hell have  you been?” Percival asked Merlin. 

“I just got separated. Found a little girl, she saved my life with her magic. I remembered, found you and defeated a skeleton army. All in all, an eventful Tuesday.” 

“It’s Wednesday.” Arthur told him flatly. 

“An eventful Wednesday.” he corrected himself lightly. 

As soon as he had a moment, Merlin's eyes went from Arthur who stood with Gwen to Morgana, gasping in pain, still on her hands and knees clutching her side. He raced to Morgana, dropped to his knees. Morgana looked up sharply and gasped, trying to pull away.   
"No—," he started his hands reaching out to her but didn't quite touch her. "Morgana, I'm sorry I had to protect Arthur I couldn't risk anyone finding out."   
"Mordred knew."   
"Mordred was a druid. I never wanted him to know. It would have been better if he didn’t.” 

Morgana sighed. “We’ll have time to talk later. We have a mess to sort out now.” 

“Can you move?”

“Yeah. I just--I don’t know--pulled something?” she allowed Merlin to help her to her feet, wincing as she did so.

Merlin glanced from her to Gwaine, “Why are you turning your phone on?”

“I’m going to take a victory selfie in front of the pile of bones.” Gwaine positioned himself and then waved them over. “Come here I want us all to be in it so I can tag it ‘legendary’. It’ll break the internet.” 

“The end of the world already did that for you, mate.” 

Someone pulled Arthur over to Gwaine and he smiled out of habit more than anything. His mind was reeling. Merlin was back. He  remembered . He defeated an entire skeleton army/zombie hoard with a single raise of his hands and a sentence in a language Arthur didn’t know. 

 

“Arthur, are you alright?” Morgana asked quietly as the others dispersed.  She was pale and there were bruises he hadn’t noticed before on her shoulders and arms. They twisted up her arms but when he looked up at her, it was clear she didn’t want to talk about them. 

He couldn’t lose his sister. Not again. “I’m fine Morgana,” he promised and gently turned her around to go over to Leon. 

Merlin was in front of him when Arthur turned back around. The younger man’s eyes were wide and searching. Then Merlin reached out and grabbed Arthur’s arm, holding onto it tightly. “This is real.” He mumbled to no one. “This is really happening. You really came back. Kilgarrah was right.”

“What?”

“At the lake—Avalon, Kilgarrah said that you were the Once and Future King—that you’d come back when Albion needed you again. And—,” He looked around the room, appearing at once too small for all of this and—this is what Arthur wanted to prevent. He didn’t want him to have to relive all those memories, every time he saw a sorcerer hung when it very nearly could have been him. But a smile broke out across his face and he laughed, his grip on Arthur’s bicep loosened but didn’t cease altogether. “You’re back. Everything’s okay. Everyone’s back . Everyone . My father—your mother—Will— Freya —,“ he laughed and Arthur couldn’t stop himself from asking with barely disguised— but that was okay, Merlin was laughing too much to notice—hope.  

“Freya?”

 

Merlin’s laughed subsided a little at his question, but he was still smiling when he answered. “You didn’t know her. She was cursed.”

“She’s the girl I killed. The basset.”

The smile was wiped from Merlin’s face instantly, he looked for all the world like he had wanted to protect Arthur from this knowledge. Protect him, when all Arthur wanted to do was protect Merlin.  “Arthur, you didn’t know.” And Arthur  hadn’t known. Not for over a  thousand years . Merlin hadn’t known for what, a couple of  days after they were reunited?

“No—no—this whole time I was hoping that she was back too, that I could find her, introduce the two of you. I hoped you could finally get to leave with her, go someplace safe.”

“Gods no—Arthur—she’s dating Will.” He started laughing again. Arthur just watched him, taken aback. Why is it he could rule a kingdom but couldn’t help make his best friend happy? Every plan had been thwarted. No wonder he used to visit the tavern so much. Everyone he had loved died.  “’Sides, I don’t even like women. Have you seen where Gwen’s gotten to?”

“What?”

“Gwen, you clotpole, in case you haven’t realized we did sort of spend a lot of time together after you—”

“After I what?” Arthur’s brain was still hung up on the fact that Merlin didn’t want to be with Freya. 

Merlin turned to him, eyes narrowed, “Don’t do that, Arthur. Don’t you ever do that. Did you see where Gwen went, yes or no?” he all but hissed, and Arthur took a step back as his thoughts caught up with him. 

“No, I didn—“ But Merlin had turned at ‘no’ and stalked off before he had a chance to finish his sentence. 

It took Arthur a good five minutes to realize that Merlin had meant  after you died. 

 

*

 

Merlin sat by himself several hours later, staring off into nothing. Without warning, his face crumpled and he leaned back, put a hand on his head and breathed deeply. He groaned and ran his hands over his face. The tears started falling unwilling and within seconds he was sobbing. 

“Oh my god—Merlin—,” Gwen gasped and ran over to him. She hovered, not quite touching him. 

“I was supposed to save him. I saved his life so many times and then I couldn’t—the sword broke off and the chip in his heart and—I tried to get him to Avalon. I dragged him there—he wasn’t breathing but I thought if I just got him there it’d be okay. Because it was always okay. But it wasn’t he was dead. I failed. Like with Uther—I tried to save him. I should have saved him but the curse reversed my magic and it made it worse and I had to lie. I had to lie about everything and it was all for nothing. Gwaine died, Lance died, Elyan died. Everyone died and I couldn’t stop any of it.” 

“Merlin, sweetheart…”

“It was for nothing. All of it.” 

“It wasn’t.” 

Merlin wiped at his tears with the palm of his hand and looked to Arthur who stood determined with his arms crossed across his chest. 

“Look at all that you and Gwen achieved. You have action figures. You brought magic to Camelot and it flourished—the city became the most powerful in the land. You saved so many lives—taught so many people.” 

Merlin watched him as he caught his breath. He swallowed his words and looked anywhere but at him. 

“Merlin?”

He shook his head and wiped his tears away but refused to say anything else. 

 

It wasn’t until later that he even acknowledged anyone else. Almost aimlessly they wandered around, they were too far to reach The Royal Charlie by dark and now with both Merlin and Morgana with magic, Arthur decided that it was well past time to start on the offensive. 

Merlin slowed his pace so that he could walk with Morgana. “Why did you teach me about magic?”

“No one told me helping you would doom everything.”

“ Not helping you doomed everything. I should have been your friend.”

“What’s in the past is done.” 

Merlin frowned. “I wish it wasn’t.” 

Morgana sighed and pat him on his arm, “I wish it wasn’t either.” Done with the conversation, Morgana hurried forward to walk with Gwen and Freya. 

 

Merlin sighed heavily and settled on walking by himself. Lost in his thought for several moments, Merlin didn’t know what caught his attention until he felt his stomach drop. He stopped short, causing Arthur and Gwaine both to bump into him. 

“What is it?” Morgana asked at once, squinting into the darkness. 

“Will?” Merlin snapped. “Dad?”

Two figures emerged from the growing darkness and next to Morgana, Freya stiffened. 

“We told you to stay put!” she growled.

“Like hell we were going to stay put! Yeah, I might have died protecting Arthur but he fucking killed you!”

“How do you know that?” Freya demanded. 

“Merlin told me while pissed off his ass while he was having his identity crisis. Are you over that?” Merlin sent a spell at Will that knocked him on his ass. He just climbed back onto his feet, unfazed. “Good.”

“What do you mean I told you? I didn’t remember anything until I was back in London.”

“Yeah, well that night you did. Personally, I think the only reason you didn’t drink yourself to death is because of your magic.” 

“Will, don’t talk like that. He hardly touched anything, the poor boy’s just a lightweight.”

“Yeah, well, this lightweight drank three bottles of wine.”

“Nice,” Gwaine laughed and Morgana arched an eyebrow. 

“It was magic that saved him then,” Arthur butted in because, of course he did. “I’ve seen him get drunk off two drinks before.” 

Will looked him up and down and then winked at Merlin. “This must be Arthur.” 

“Fucking hell, you and Gwaine are exactly the same,” Merlin sighed wearily. 

“What do you mean by that? Merlin?”

“How’d you get here?”

Will’s eyes lit up and put a hand on Balinor’s shoulder to stop him from speaking, “You’re never going to believe it but—“

“It was a dragon,” Merlin’s father finished, with a smile playing on his lips. Will frowned,  deflated. 

Freya nodded, impressed. “Merlin and I just stole a moped.” 

“Was it Kilgarrah?” 

“No, it was just a little thing.” Will scrunched up his face but then nodded at Balinor’s words. 

“Aithusa?” Morgana sat up straighter and nearly fell from her seat. “She’s white.” 

“No, this dragon was young and dark brown.” 

“But—that’s impossible. Kilgarrah and Aithusa were the last dragons.” Merlin frowned and glanced to Morgana who shook her head to show she didn’t understand either. 

“Maybe it’s like Game of Thrones and there were petrified eggs hanging out somewhere.” 

“Ew. Do not mention that shit show in front of me,” Freya glared at Gwaine who held up his hands in surrender. 

“He’s just trying to help, babe.” Will rubbed her arms but her gaze was stony. 

“Bringing up Game of Thrones never helps.” 

 

Later, when they had all broken into a flat and had all but thrown themselves down onto whatever soft surface they could find in exhaustion, Will asked, “So, we have no plan and no idea what’s really going on,” Will pulled Freya closer to him and she rested her head on his shoulder with her eyes shut.  

“There’s so many things that are wrong we just have to figure out what they have in common.” 

“Magic,” Merlin sighed. “It’s all magic.” 

Gwaine’s head slumped onto the table and Merlin glanced to him and huffed. 

“We can work with that,” Gwen rested her elbows on her knees and turned the page of the book. Morgana leaned forward next to her so she could read along. 

Merlin gasped in pain and grabbed his hand. Arthur immediately leapt from his seat to check on him. Merlin waved him off but Morgana’s eyes went wide. “Did you hurt yourself or did that come out of nowhere?”

“It keeps coming out of nowhere.” 

Arthur frowned at him from where he was propped up on his elbow, “Why haven’t you said anything before?”

“Because it isn’t worth it on top of everything else.” 

“Don’t be an idiot. If you’re hurt—“

Morgana moved slightly as if to shield Merlin from Arthur. “I’ve been getting the pains as well—they’re always random, right? That’s what happened to me right before you showed up with your memories intact. ”

“…yes?”

“Are our resident sorcerers sick?” Gwaine asked without lifting his head. 

Morgana’s eyes were wide and she clutched Gwen’s hand in her own. Gwen abandoned the book to focus on the woman next to her. “I think magic’s out of control. I think it’s been locked up for so many years that it’s just out of control.” 

“That’s why we get these jolts of pain and that’s why there’s sometimes flare-ups in our magic?” 

“Great.” Arthur announced to the room at large. “All we have to do is control magic.” 

“Tomorrow at first light we’ll go out. There has to be a physical presence.”

 

*

 

“I’m sorry, Morgana,” Merlin turned away from Arthur and looked to Morgana over his pillow. 

She frowned and tucked her hand under her own pillow. “I am too, Emrys.” 

They were silent for a moment and then Lancelot broke it. 

“Mate, I’m just putting this out there, alright? There are at  least two dragons out there with the possibility of more. You’re a dragonlord. Two words:  dragon. army .”

“Follow in your Queen’s example, mate, and go the fuck to sleep,” Gwaine groaned, his words slightly muffled by whatever he was using as a pillow. 

Merlin was silent for a moment, and then decided, “I’m going to do it.” 

Arthur groaned loudly and grumbled into his pillow. Merlin started to laugh and Morgana watched him with a smile. 

 

*

Merlin awoke with his arms around Arthur. He recoiled immediately but realized when he couldn’t pull away that Arthur had his arms around him as well. 

The jolt woke Arthur up and his eyes went wide when he realized how close together they were. Merlin tried to say something but the others were already awake and getting ready to go. They both let go of each other and all but ignored each other as they got ready to leave. 

Arthur cornered Merlin just as they were ready to go. 

“We’re all different people,” Arthur crossed his arms and then uncrossed them quickly to put them down at his side. 

Merlin didn’t know what he meant by that but he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms and entertained him regardless. “We’re not really. We’re all exactly the same. That was part of the problem, remember?”

“I’m not a king.” 

“I hate to break it to you, but you’re the Once and Future King. If I have to deal with being Emrys you have to deal with being the Once and Future King. It’s kinda the only reason I’m here.” 

“So if Gwaine or Gwen needed you, you’d just, what, abandon them?”

“Of course not. But if I didn’t bump into them looking for Gaius I’d never know they were here. Would any of us be here if not for your destiny.” 

“ Our destiny.” Arthur stepped closer, his voice firm. 

Merlin considered Arthur for a long moment, Arthur’s gaze flickered down to his lips and then back up again, the faintest hint of panic in his eyes. 

He could die tomorrow. 

They could lose each other. 

The earth could rip apart between them and they could find themselves on either side of an ocean of lava and fire breathing morgans. 

Fuck it. 

He was going to kiss him. 

Merlin leaned forward, one hand going to the back of Arthur’s head before he pressed their lips together. Arthur went absolutely rigid beneath him and Merlin pulled away after he commented the moment to memory, the feel of Arthur’s dry lips against his own. 

When he glanced to him, Arthur just stared vacantly into the distance. He took a step back and Arthur blinked back to reality, unfortunately it was only to gasp. “What?”

“You stare at my ass all the time, Arthur Pendragon. Don’t you even try to pretend otherwise.” 

“Yes but—,” Arthur stammered and Merlin leaned back, waiting for the sure to be glorious excuse his king was going to come up with. “Freya.”

“Freya?” Merlin blurted, leaning forward and tilting his head. “Literally, you’ve seen her and Will make out. They’re my best mates. And they’ve been dating for a year. I’ve told you before I wasn’t interested in women.”

“But—,” Arthur stammered again. 

“Look. Sorry, I should have asked. Sorry if you’re uncomfortable. It won’t happen again if you don’t want it to.”

“No. I—I do. Want it to.”

A smile spread across Merlin’s face immediately and he let out a little huff of laughter. “Well, good, then. Eloquent as always,  sire .” 

Arthur leaned in and Merlin smiled into the kiss. He hadn’t ever even thought about this in Camelot. Arthur was his friend, his other half but it was always been totally platonic. Merlin didn’t know if it was the same for Arthur or not but it was okay. They were both right: they were different people but exactly the same. 

“Sorry for interrupting, but we’ve got to head out.” 

Merlin pulled away and watched Arthur’s face for a long moment before lacing their fingers together and pulling Arthur along behind him after Lance, who couldn’t quite get his grin under control. 

#  *

 

Two days of fruitless searching later and Merlin pulled Arthur into a kiss just to get him to stop thinking. He pulled away when he felt a pull of magic coming from close by. 

“Mordred.” 

Merlin spun around to look at Morgana, but she had a smile on her face. She looked to Merlin and laughed. “Mordred’s with Elyan and Percival. They’re coming to meet us.”

“Where have they been?” Merlin demanded the same moment Leon blurted out. “How the hell do you know that?”

“Mordred could always communicate telepathically, even when he was a little kid.” 

“That’s freaky. But I can totally see it. Didn’t you and Morgana sneak him out of Camelot?” Gwaine asked. 

“Arthur and Gwen helped too. He was a child. Innocent.” 

“I wasn’t saying he wasn’t.”

Gwaine laughed loudly as the three rounded the corner and he all but threw himself at Percival, hugging him tightly. Elyan raced over to his sister, picking her off the ground to hug her. 

“There was this screaming and we went to investigate but then we were outside Bath.”

“ Bath .”

“I know.”

“Emrys,” Mordred greeted him flatly and Morgana pat his arm. 

“He’s only just remembered he  is Emrys so we have to be gentle with him. He’s only a little thing.” 

Merlin puffed up, playing at being offended. “I’m a legendary powerful sorcerer. You can’t talk to me like that.” 

“Look at those cheekbones.” 

“Logically I understand. Kara tried to kill you. We were the enemy. You were trying to protect Camelot. But you and Gwen went down in history for doing what we were trying to do. I trusted you and you turned your back because destiny said I would kill Arthur.”

“If I hadn’t you’d have no reason to seek revenge.”    
Mordred paused, taken aback at how Merlin agreed with him but slowly continued at a more hesitant tone. “But you killed the woman I loved and history erased Camelot’s hatred of magic. It swept all the death and suffering under the rug. It turned Morgana into the stuff of nightmares when she was the only kindness I had.” He turned to Morgana. “And now you’re with the people who betrayed you--who weren’t there for you and you act like it’s nothing.” 

Morgana opened her mouth to respond, but Arthur beat her to it, “Why are you with Percival and Elyan?” 

“Because I know we have a better chance together. I’m not an idiot. I’m not going to turn my back on the world. I know the only way my sisters will be safe is with your help because this is the future and you’re its king, Arthur. I’m not saying I’m not with you. I’m just saying this is  the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, pretending that it’s not.” 

Arthur nodded, “I understand. We all have a complicated history. As Gwaine is always quick to point out, half of us have murdered each other. The important thing to do is to not let the past define us and instead we have to work towards saving the future.” 

“Do you know how?”

“Magic is unbalanced.” Morgana brushed her hair out of her eyes and Morded nodded silently in understanding. 

“Maybe the key to restoring balance is to use up the repressed energy?” Merlin offered and then turned towards the apartment building to their right. He raised his arms like he was conducting and they watched as the words ‘ Arthur Pendragon is not as big of a prat as he could be’ appeared in big blocky letters. 

“Well done, Merlin,” Lance commended him dryly as Mordred laughed in surprise. “You’re really doing your part to save the world. Glad the dragon sent you to us.” 

Merlin laughed and Lance echoed him as Gwaine asked, “Can you write ‘ yo Kilgarrah, where you at’  next because I really think he should be helping us if he knew how to get you to us.” 

Arthur gently shoved Merlin, “We are not leaving graffiti all over London.” 

Merlin raised his right hand towards the building again and Arthur reached out to lower it, “If you write  ‘just kidding’ I swear to god, Merlin...” 

Merlin twisted his hand in Arthur’s so that they were holding hands. “What’re you going to do to me?” 

A blush spread across Arthur’s cheeks and Merlin turned to Gwaine and Lance, victorious.   Merlin started walking again, his fingers laced with Arthur’s. Mordred whispered fiercely to Morgana behind him and her laugh made it clear Mordred was asking about the hand-holding. 

 

Three things happened at once. The first was a swooping feeling in Merlin’s gut. He grabbed Leon to stop him in his tracks, pulled Arthur closer to him, and from the corner of his eye he could see someone coming out of a house towards them. The second thing was there was a loud, painful howl followed by a crash that shook the ground. The fourth was the windows in the building next to them—and Merlin recognized it although he couldn’t place it—blew out over them. 

“ Bordhagan ,” Merlin and Morgana shouted in unison and the glass shards bounded off the air above them to fall innocently to the sideway.

Arthur knocked into Merlin as the sound of shattering glass subsided and gasped, “Dad.” 

Merlin physically recoiled, which for some reason seemed to amuse the hell out of Mordred, when he followed Arthur’s gaze and realized Uther Pendragon was running towards them. 

“Is that Uther Pendragon?” His father asked blankly and Merlin put himself in between Uther and his father. 

Another loud howl sounded, more of a wail than anything else and Merlin turned back towards the building and—oh it was the Royal Opera House. Gaius had taken him once when he was little. He had fallen asleep halfway through. 

“ Kill it ,” Someone screamed and without fully realizing what he was doing, Merlin raced around the corner. The first thing he saw was a chimera. The second was the blast of magic that blew past him, inches from his face. 

Merlin belatedly ducked and bumped into Gwen as she tore around the corner after him. He threw an arm out in front of her as he watched someone throw a glowing ball of magic at the chimera. It missed and crashed into the building behind it. 

“What—it’s in pain—stop attacking it! You—” Merlin shouted but the figure, and now that Merlin looked, he could see several other people hidden behind various surfaces. He wasn’t being careful with his magic—he could hurt someone and—

“And you think Philip wasn’t?” the man screamed and let loose a glowing powerful burst of energy that knocked Merlin and Gwen off their feet and the Royal Opera House crumbled. Hands grabbed Merlin and dragged him away and it was only when he was getting to his feet that he realized it had been  Uther . 

“Stop!  Ic the withdraf! ” Morgana called from very close by and the man was knocked off his feet. From the ground he sent a blast of energy at her only his aim went wide and Merlin watched as the blast veered to the left—towards his father. 

“Shit—no— Gescil \--! ” Merlin shouted but couldn’t finish the spell as pain erupted up his arm and into his head. He screamed and someone caught him as someone else knocked into them and when Merlin looked up again, his father was nowhere in sight.

“No!” he screamed again and tried to pull away but Percival held him tight. 

The chimera lunged at the man, still lying on the ground, and Merlin sent a spell at it, freezing it in place. “Dad!” he screamed, wriggling his way out of Percival’s grasp. 

Freya screamed behind him and Merlin turned without stopping. “ Bordhagan!” he screamed and the air around Freya glowed for a second but she wasn’t in danger. He followed her line of sight and saw that one of the man’s friends had taken advantage of the chimera being frozen and lunged at it with what looked like a butcher’s knife. Mordred and Morgana both cast spells to stop him and so Merlin turned and scrambled over the rubble of what used to be the Royal Opera House, his heart in his throat. He couldn’t watch him die again. He wouldn’t lose him again. 

 

Behind him, Morgana cursed loudly and the chimera roared in pain. When Merlin found his father he wasn’t alone—Uther was with him. They were both crumpled at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Merlin squeezed his eyes shut and allowed himself a heartbeat to ready himself before he climbed down to them. 

“Dad—,” he gently touched his father’s shoulder and the man instantly groaned. 

Merlin found he couldn’t breath as he watched his father open his eyes and start to sit up, “I’m fine. Uther—he took the brunt of the blow.” 

Merlin glanced to the former king and recoiled, crying out in pain—Uther’s eyes stared unseeing towards the sky. 

“He’s dead,” He gasped. This was twice now he couldn’t save him. Twice he was going to have to watch Arthur grieve. 

Balinor shut his eyes, “He pushed me out of the way. He got in front of me to protect me. He died saving my life. How things have changed.” 

“He pulled me away from the collapsing building before—” Merlin blurted out and dimly he could make out the sounds of his friends screaming. 

“I’m fine, Merlin. Really I am. I’m bruised but that’s it. Get back to them.” 

Merlin searched his father’s eyes but he was already slowing climbing to his feet and so Merlin rose as well and raced back up to the others. 

 

Percival and Gwaine were there to pull him up and with a glance past them, Merlin could see that the chimera was dead. Only Arthur and Freya hung around its broken body. Everyone else crowded around Merlin. The other group of people were nowhere to be seen. 

“Dad’s okay,” he told Will and then found Morgana’s worried eyes. For a moment, no words came to him and then he spoke softly and just his tone of voice had Morgana blinking heavily and tilting her head back. “I’m so sorry.” 

Percival and Gwaine rushed down towards Uther and Balinor as Merlin slipped past everyone else to go to Arthur and Freya. 

“Poor thing was in pain,” Freya’s voice shook as she ran a hand along the side of the beast’s head. Merlin stepped up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She leaned into the touch but didn’t pull away from the chimera. 

“I’m sorry we couldn’t save it,” Arthur kept himself a few steps away, clearly wary of upsetting her.

Freya closed her eyes. “Me too.” When she opened them it was to find Merlin, “What happen to Balinor and Arthur’s father?”

Merlin froze, prey trapped in a corner, and then his face broke. 

Arthur immediately went pale and shook his head, “No.” 

“Dad’s fine but— Arthur … He saved my dad’s life—I don’t— “ Merlin’s voice broke off and Arthur raced towards the others. 

“He’s gone?” Freya asked quietly. 

Merlin nodded, swallowing thickly, “I couldn’t save him for a second time.”

Freya wrapped her arms around him instantly. “You can’t do everything. We can’t save everyone. I know that bloody dragon said it was your destiny to save the world but I’m saying it’s not your destiny to do it alone. We’re all here for you—with you. You’re not alone and you do not have to bear all the weight alone. If this were Harry Potter we’d all walk into those woods together.” 

“That was a terrible example—the horcrux inside him needed to be destroyed before Voldemort could be defeated.” 

“Please don’t say that name. I’m still not entirely convinced he  won’t show up.” 

Merlin smiled weakly, partially because he knew she wasn’t really joking. His smile slipped away almost immediately and he wrapped his arms around her again, “Please don’t talk like that. You sound like you’re about to be killed off.” 

Freya scoffed and pushed him away. “I’m the Lady of the Lake. I can’t be killed that easily.” 

Merlin frowned and pulled her back into the hug, after a moment he asked. “Do you know where Excalibur is?”

“Pants if I know,” she blurted out and Merlin smiled, tilting his head slightly. She put a hand on his arm and looked down into the rubble. “We should get down there. Your boyfriend’s going to need you.” 

 

They walked back over to the others, standing at the edge of the rubble. Morgana was sobbing on Mordred’s shoulder. Merlin could make out her ‘ he hated the opera’ .  His father stood with them, Elyan was checking him over for injuries while he protested that he was fine. 

 

“Are we going to go get him?” Merlin asked Arthur quietly. 

Arthur shook his head and Leon answered for him. “With the Earth shaking like this, going to retrieve him would be suicide.”

“Are you sure?” Merlin asked, he hadn’t even been aware of the shaking ground until he had pointed it out. Arthur didn’t respond. Merlin watched him as he was silent for a long moment and then he turned away. 

“I think we should check on Gwen and Lance’s flat. We’re close enough.” 

“I really don’t think…”

“We’re going. Come on, Merlin.” Arthur’s hand clamped down on his wrist and pulled Merlin away. 

“I shouldn’t—we should find out what’s making the earth shake—”

“Mordred and I have got this.” Morgana assured him as she gained control of herself. 

“Freya’s coming with me,” Merlin reached out and grabbed his friend, causing Will to look at him suspiciously. 

Arthur didn’t miss a beat. “Will and Freya are coming with us straight to Gwen’s. Everyone else—“

“We’ll figure out what’s up.” 

“Arthur, I think—“

“Merlin. We’re leaving.” 

 

*

Gwen and Lance’s apartment was gone. They couldn’t even get close to it because the ground had wide cracks in it but their best best was that it had been swallowed up by a sinkhole. 

Arthur had lead the three of them away from the destruction and stopped in the middle of the street in Victoria. He started up at a building, at the photos of gaudy green costumes and had turned to the others, a smile on his face. He reasoned that the entire ground floor was boarded up and the entire area appeared deserted. It would be a perfectly safe place for them to spend the night. 

Merlin had just looked up at the Apollo Victoria theater and then silently told Mordred where to find them. 

 

The next morning Merlin sat nearly on top of Arthur who had an arm wrapped around his waist. He had held him all night as Arthur shook but Arthur hadn’t broken down about his father’s sudden death yet. That alone sent off warning bells but there would be time to grieve later. There would be so much time. Merlin had to believe it. 

“We have to do something. I can’t just sit here,” Morgana paced back and forth in the dressing room they all had gathered in, combing her hair out with her fingers. 

“Maybe if the two of them didn’t run off for a quick shag ever twenty minutes we’d have some sort of plan,” Merlin glared at Will and went to get up but Arthur tightened his grip around his waist. 

“You have never sounded so jealous.” Freya sighed wearily. 

“Your mother’s beside herself with worry. She and Gaius have their hands full tending to the wounded.”

“William, please.” Morgana sighed and behind her Merlin mouthed  William at him. 

“Yeah, actually, Queen Guinevere’s dead husband and Emrys are sitting here making out. What kind of fucked up fanfiction is this?”

“We need to focus on what we’re going to do.” Morgana interrupted him sharply, she knew Merlin and Arthur’s newfound closeness wasn’t because they were  shagging every twenty minutes but rather Merlin was currently the only thing keeping Arthur from falling apart and vice versa. 

“We’ve been focusing!”

“Magic cast in fear has a greater strain than one casted in…love or for fun. Those spells are meant to be long lasting, most of them are meant to be permanent.” Merlin interrupted. 

“This is some new age hippie bullshit and it’s not what I signed up for.”  Gwaine told them all with a heavy sigh, he had a green feather boa wrapped around his neck, seeming just for shits and giggles. Percival wore a top hat next to him. They looked ridiculous but honestly they were all probably lucky no one decided to paint anyone green yet. Arthur was certainly asking for it when he decided to break into and squat in the Wicked theater.  

“Do you think the strain could be focused in certain areas?” Leon asked too quietly to be anything but suspicious. 

“Yes, I do,” Morgana told him carefully, evidently she had suspicions about his question as well. 

“I think there might be one under West End. It would explain all the shaking and—”

“Wait there’s  what under West End?” Merlin blurted out, leaning forward and leaning out of Arthur’s embrace. 

“When we went down the Covent Garden Tube station—“

“Hold up when the hell did this happen?” Morgana asked sharply and Percival straightened his back and crossed his arms. 

“Just because we don’t have magic—that doesn’t mean we’re useless.” 

“We were all in the area, all you had to do was call one of us before you went underground. You very well could have been buried alive.” 

“What was down there?”

“Something,” Leon spoke sharply, “The air was thick with electricity or magic.” 

“It was magic,” Mordred said softly. “I was with them.” 

Morgana sighed and leaned back, waving her hand in the air. “You should have started with that.”

“Why didn’t you mention this last night?”

“We were all exhausted and upset. Going down there would have been suicide.”

“Well, we’re going right now, then,” Arthur turned and walked towards the exit as if he really was going to do just that. 

“Wait—hold up, I need to find some shoes.” 

“Merlin, you’re not going.” 

Merlin made a face at Lance before he pushed himself to his feet.“If you think I’m leaving your side for a second you are sorely mistaken.” 

“ Mer lin,” Arthur turned around as if to go over to him and physically stop him but his shoulders were already slumped in defeat.

“I have magic. You don’t. You’re useless in this situation anyway. What are you thinking?”    
“Merlin!” Arthur protested, sounding scandalized. 

“What are you going to do? Throw me in the stocks? Oh wait, that isn’t a thing anymore.”

“I’ll build—,” Arthur began but Gwaine chose that moment to walk by. 

“Gross. Don’t talk about your sex lives in public.” 

Arthur turned bright red as Merlin and Gwaine laughed. 

#  *

 

“Oh,” Merlin gasped as he stood and took in the cavern they were standing in. “I think I’ve been here before. It’s the crystal cave—where I had to go to get my magic back—where you trapped me, Morgana.” 

“It’s in the wrong place,” Morgana appeared next to him, Freya close behind her. 

“I don’t care if it’s moved or what. Can you make it stop shaking?” Freya kept close to him, eying the glowing rocks apprehensively. 

From the other side of the opening, Lance shouted, “You okay?”

“Fine. It opens up.” 

“It’s still shaking and I don’t like this,” Elyan added. 

“It’s too much,” Morgana murmured, stepping deeper into the cavern, seemingly unaware of the dirt raining down on their heads. 

“Can you do something?” Freya didn’t move from her spot next to Merlin. Morgana turned to him. 

“What do you think?”

“We have to release the energy or it’s going to explode.” 

“Excuse me?” Freya asked shrilly, her nails digging into Merlin’s arm. 

“What?”

“The place is gonna blow.” 

Lance’s voice went up a few octaves, “Now or—“ 

“We’ve got this under control.” 

Almost immediately after Merlin said it, the crystals began to brighten in intensity and Freya gripped Merlin’s arm tighter in shock. The shaking became more violent and Morgana swore darkly and grabbed Freya, retreating out of the cave. Freya protested, causing Merlin to be yanked back. 

“Morgana—” he called, “Where are you going?”

“I don’t fancy getting buried alive today.” 

“Morgana!” Merlin protested again but Freya pulled him after her back towards the opening. Morgana slipped through, dragging Freya behind her and before Merlin could wrench his arm away, Elyan and Lance both grabbed him and hauled him out of the cave. Together, they dragged him back to the stairs and all but shoved him up them. 

“No. We can’t run, we have to act now before it’s too late.” His friends didn’t pause as they continued to sprint up the stairs, dragging Merlin with them. A loud crack sounded and the wall next to them fractured but didn’t break. But it was going to. The crack splinted over into a web of faults and Merlin glanced ahead of them, knowing they wouldn’t make it to the top of the spiral stairway in time. 

Wrenching his hand out of Elyan’s grip he held it out in front of him, “ Gewyrc an lif. Upastige draca! ” he screamed and a gust of wind swept under them and knocked him and the others off his feet. The breeze carried them upwards, sparks of gold and red floated in the air with them until they slowly solidified under them, causing them all to scramble to hold on to what was now carrying them. 

“Merlin did you just  create a dragon ?” Morgana screeched, holding Elyan tightly so he didn’t slip from its back. It wasn’t large at all--although it’s wings really should have been hitting the side of the stairwell as if flew round and round to the surface. 

They burst through the doors of the tube station as the ground beneath them collapsed into a giant sink hole. Morgana screamed and held Elyan closer to her as she searched the ground for the others. Merlin, with his arms around both the dragon’s neck and Freya, peered over the dragon’s shoulder and watched as the ground fell away. Please let them have run, he prayed, half trying to come up with a spell that would make it so. 

Merlin hadn’t seen any sight of their friends before the dragon swooped down and landed on the ground with a clumsy thud. 

“What the fuck,” Arthur blurted out from somewhere very close by and Merlin looked up to see him and the others standing several feet from them, all staring at them like... well, like they had just swooped in on the back of a dragon. 

“Is this the start of your dragon army?” Gwaine asked very cautiously, not stepping nearer like Balinor and Will were doing to held them off the dragon’s back. 

“We needed help getting out—I panicked.” Merlin landed on the street with a soft thud and stood with his back to the dragon. Now that it had done what Merlin had needed it to do, it’d dissolve back into whatever he had pulled it out of. His father, however, was still staring at it in wonder and a moment later a gust of wind nearly knocked Merlin from his feet. 

Merlin turned around to peer up into the sky where the dragon was doing what looked like a victory lap above their heads.  Great, a dragon over West End--that wasn’t obvious at all. 

His father came to stand next to him. “That’s the most impressive piece of magic I’ve ever seen.” 

Merlin squinted up at the sky, “Why hasn’t the spell ended? It did what it was supposed to do.”

“Spell?” his father asked absently, too focused on the dragon in the sky. The dragon, gold and red and all but glittering in the sunlight, completed another circle and then lazily made its way back to the ground in front of them. 

“Well—yeah, it’s not a real dragon.” 

The other stepped back as the dragon landed—all of them except Merlin, his father and Will. For some reason Arthur stepped  forward to stand on Merlin’s other side. “It looks like a real dragon to me.” 

“Well it’s—” The dragon lunged forward and violently nuzzled Merlin. 

“She’s real. You created a real living creature out of thin air.” Balinor said, his voice full of wonder. 

“What’s her name?” Morgana called from behind them. 

Merlin gently reached up and touched the side of her face, “Nikephoros.” 

“So...what do we do now that the cave’s gone? The shaking stopped which I want to be a good sign.”  Lance, with an arm still around Gwen, looked over the sink hole. It wasn’t very large and they could still see the sign for Covent Gardens tube station less than a hundred yards down. 

Morgana frowned and stepped next to the dragon to look into the hole. “ Scíraþ. ” 

The dirt and ruins shifted around and climbed up the side of the sinkhole for several long moments until the crystals were visible. Morgana shielded her eyes. “Merlin used up a bunch of magic but it’s—” she screamed and grabbed her side. Mordred and Arthur were next to her instantly. 

“What is it? What happened?” Mordred demanded, eyes wide in panic.

“Sorry—” Morgana said through gritted teeth. “I’m fine, it’s just the pain—it flared up all of a sudden and it was worse than ever.” 

Arthur looked over to Merlin and he came over to stand closer to the edge. “It wasn’t enough. We still need to unbind the magic.” 

“Does that mean you’re going back down there?” Arthur asked flatly and Merlin made a small noise that he hoped Arthur understood as  of course . Given the unamused stare Arthur turned on him, Merlin was pretty confident he got it. 

Mordred, still supporting Morgana, glanced down to the exposed, glowing crystals. “ Tódaþ .”  A bolt of lightning flew up from the crystals into the sky and Morgana stood up straight. 

“We don’t all need to go back down there, and honestly, I don’t really want any of us going down there. They’re too dangerous.  Spells and enchantments were stretched too thin for too long and the individual spells broke first.”

“And then it started to affect creatures of magic. The morgans and the manticores and griffins and us.  Magic started to become a poison.” Mordred’s voice was quiet. 

“Finally it came back to the crystals. They must be the source of magic? Or they’re able to hold it at least. I knew once…” she put her hand over her mouth and looked to Merlin. 

“I think magic was being redirected to the crystals. Someone must have cast a powerful spell that prevented witches and warlocks from being born with magic.”

“It could be million of spells—individual people protecting their families,” Mordred added. 

“And so over hundreds of years of people’s magic are stored in the crystals and with magic splintering all around—it’s too much?” Gwen interrupted, finishing their thoughts, causing her brother to look vaguely alarmed. 

“Oh, is that all? So you’ve just got to release the tension here and it’ll be fine?”

“This isn’t the only cave. There’s one near where Camelot was and there has to be more all over the world. If this were the only spot, they would have given out years ago. Think about how many millions of lifetimes of magic must have been redirected.” 

“We can worry about the others later. Can you fix this one?” Arthur put his hand on Merlin’s shoulder and looked to Mordred and Morgana to include them in his question. 

Merlin sighed and went over to Nikephoros, asking her quietly if she was able to take him down to the crystals. She scoffed at him. “Of course,” Her voice was deep and steady and Merlin found himself smiling. 

“We don’t know what’s going to happen so—” Morgana began and Gwen beat her to it. 

“We’ll make sure anyone curious enough to check this out stays away.” 

“We’ll try at least.” Elyan grimaced. 

Morgana turned away.  “ Undaþ .” A mist swirled up from the stones and dissipated into the air. 

“Mordred, mate. I think you should try that one.” 

Mordred turned to glare at Percival but he repeated Morgana’s spell. A mist shot out of the crystals, violently zig-zagging upwards several meters before it dissipated. 

“Looks like it’s you.” Percival scrunched up his nose and Mordred sent him a weightless glare, a smile playing at his lips. 

The other all left, Gwen pointed at Merlin through the crowd as she walked away and shouted at him to be careful. Merlin turned back to Nikephoros and started to climb onto her back when she told him Arthur was standing right behind him. 

Without stopping, Merlin asked, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Going with you. I can’t protect you if we’re apart.” 

“Yes, but I can protect you from this, so get going.” 

Nikephoros laughed as Merlin situated himself on her back and the traitor dragon leaned down to make it easy for Arthur to climb on in back of Merlin. 

“For the love of—” Merlin grumbled but Nikephoros didn’t have time for his complaining and she swooped into the air and brought them closer to the crystals. Arthur wrapped his around around Merlin’s waist tightly and Merlin placed a hand over his. “The last time we were on a dragon together you were dead.” 

“What?” Arthur shouted but Merlin ignored him in favor of getting to work. “ Fulfieldeaþ ,” he cast and the stones glowed bright and a warm breeze swept over them. “ Onspenaþ. ” The magic floated up in the shape of a phoenix and slowly burnt itself out as it headed west. Mordred’s voice sarcastically echoed ‘ show off’ in his head. 

Together, they cast spells until the rocks dimmed to a barely noticeable glow. 

For the lack of anywhere better to go or anything better to do after they gathered everyone back up and slipped away from the growing crowd, they headed back to the Apollo Victoria theater. Merlin complained loudly about how he was starving and had Arthur all but carry him back to the theater. Arthur had protested that he should call his new dragon back but Merlin assured him she was already at the theater waiting for them and it wasn’t safe for her to be flying around in broad daylight. Arthur proceeded to spend the rest of the time muttering about dragons. 

 

The following morning Merlin awoke before everyone else. Slowly he pried himself out of Arthur’s octopus grip—he’d have to ask Gwen how she had survived it and he headed out towards the stage where there was a faint pink light. 

When he reached the wings, he could see Morgana sitting there, casting glowing sparrows to dance around above the chairs. 

“How do you feel?” Merlin asked, joining Morgana at the edge of the stage. She shrugged and leaned back to look at the dragon hanging above them. “I haven’t had a flare up since.” 

“Do you think we did it? Did we tip the scales back?”

“I don’t know but we have to find out.” Morgana stood and held out her hand for Merlin to take. He glanced to her hand and then to her face before he took it and she pulled him to his feet. Without waiting for anything else, she headed offstage towards the exit of the theater. 

Merlin hurried after her. “Do you think we’re going to have to keep fixing things?”

“I think that if we don’t this could all happen again.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone as she pushed the door open. Merlin took it when she held it out for him and squinted to see Twitter on it in the early morning light. 

“Internet’s back?”

“Yeah.” Morgana smiled as she walked briskly down the sidewalk. 

Once Merlin realized what he was seeing he glanced up to Morgana. “Have you been giving advice under my name on twitter? Did you sleep at all last night?”

She ignored the second questions, “No one’s going to take advice from the villain.” 

“You’re not the villain.” 

“I’m the evil ghost. It’s okay.” 

Merlin looked down at the phone, reading as people tweeted question after question—some of them genuine, some of them jokes. He was so caught up in wondering if it was possible to send spells though the internet (there was one person in particular who wanted to know if he had kept Gwen around because she was good in bed that he wanted to curse in particular) that he didn’t realize where they were until a voice spoke. 

“Emyrs. High Priestess.” 

Merlin looked up to see that they were near Tower Bridge. One of the towers had fallen and twisted the bridge halfway into the water. The people who spoke was a morgan. Merlin glanced to Morgana but she ignored him in favor of smiling at them. 

“Thank you for saving us.” the morgan told them. 

“We’ve done it, then?”

A flicker of uneasiness passed over their face, “The pain’s gone. The water’s silent. Haven’t you?”

“We don’t know,” Morgana confessed and sat on the edge of the wall. 

“You have,” another merperson spoke, breaking the surface without causing so much as a ripple. 

“How do you know?” Merlin demanded. 

“The balance is restored. Magical creatures’ minds are no longer clouded with pain and confusion. The spells cast on our city don’t flicker.” 

“You have a city in the Thames?” Merlin peered down at the surface of the water, trying to see through to the bottom. 

“Yes. You can see it if you look properly--”

Merlin and Morgana both looked to the water and sure enough, they could see buildings an impossible distance down. 

Morgana looked up sharply. “You’re in danger here. People are going to be frightened—they’re going to want to study you and get revenge for the damage done.” 

“This has been our home for generations. We’re not being chased away.” 

“But—”

“Emrys. We can take care of ourselves. We’ve done it for many years. It’ll take some getting used to and it won’t be smooth but we’re not going to back down.” 

Morgana smiled, “Whatever help you need, we’ll see to it that you get it.”

“Thank you, High Priestess.” The morgan smiled broadly and they stayed for several moments longer before heading back to the others. 

 

When they got back to the theatre, Mordred was pacing back and forth, talking in rapid french on his phone. When he saw them he smiled and whispered “My sisters just called. They’re alright. They’re asking when I’m coming home—to France.” 

“What’s it like there?” 

“Still bad but not as bad. I don’t think there’s any extra strain caused by us loosening the knot here.”

“We’ll fix all of this,” Morgana promised. “We won’t stop until the entire planet’s at peace again.” 

Mordred smiled and nodded before turning back to  his phone. 

Backstage, in one of the dressing rooms, the others were all gathered eating breakfast. Well, most of them. Arthur wasn’t with them. It was possible he was still asleep. 

“We checked the city. According to the morgans, we fixed it. Crisis averted.” 

Gwen flung herself from the couch and threw her arms around Merlin, hugging him tightly. After a moment she grabbed Morgana as well and pulled her into the hug. 

“Gwen—,” Morgan protested, laughing. 

“Where the  hell have you two been?” Arthur demanded, sounding like the human embodiment of a thunderstorm. 

“Leave a note next time, eh? He’s been storming around since he woke up without you.” 

“Sorry.”

Arthur’s anger dissipated quickly and he hugged Merlin tightly, “I was worried.” 

Merlin smiled at him and then kissed him. After a moment he went to pull away but Arthur tightened his grip on his waist and Merlin leaned into him. 

“Gross. What the fuck, Merlin?” Will gasped and Merlin broke the kiss to laugh. 

“Oh, shove it.” 

“So that’s it?” Gwaine asked hopefully. 

“Well, no. The world has magic. There are other unstable points—we only released this one. It’s actually not over by a long shot. The problems caused by the sudden existence of magic in London alone—”

“You brought magic back to Camelot, a land that actively hunted magic. You can bring it back to London.”

“It won’t be easy.”

“Nothing worthwhile is.” Arthur assured him. 

“I like it better when you’re here,” Merlin glanced to Arthur and smiled. 

“So we’ve got to help normalize it. Fight against hate crimes,” Gwaine frowned, 

“Your place is in Parliament, Morgana.” Merlin said suddenly, as if everything was clicking into place for him. 

Morgana’s smile was hesitant and twisted. “Thank you, Merlin.” 

“How did you know Morgana wanted to go into politics?” Arthur asked him, as if it was absurd for him to know. 

“She mentioned it a while ago but I can’t stay around and chat. There’s a little girl in the shelter nearby—she has magic and I promised I’d go back and help her learn to control it.” 

“Are you taking students already?” 

Merlin sighed, “I’m just trying to help.”

“Does help involve kidnapping? Not that I’m against it—but I need to know if I’m going to be responsible for a child in the near future.”

“It does, but hopefully we don’t have to do that this time.” 

“T his time .” 

“That’s what I said, yeah. Magic’s just woken up, the world is a completely different place. This isn’t the end—“

“It’s the beginning, yeah, I got that.” 

Leon, who had been on his phone during the entire exchange looked up suddenly as Mordred reentered the room. 

“So... I don’t know how long the internet’s been back up but—you guys saving the world kind of already went viral.” 

 

Morgana curled her lip like she had just seen something disgusting and warning bells kept going off in Merlin’s mind but he allowed both Arthur and Gwen to drag him over to where Leon was showing everyone the video of Merlin and Arthur on Nikephoros, Morgana and Mordred in the background, each trying to outdo each other in overly dramatic ways to dissipate the magic pressure. The video ended with a squawk as Mordred’s T-Rex flew directly into whoever had recorded the video. 

Elyan fist bumped him as Mordred blushed. 

“Okay so--” Merlin began but Arthur slung an arm around his shoulder. 

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll just figure out a spell that’ll blur our features or something.” 

“You sound confident.” 

Arthur smiled and looked around the room as if to say,  _well yeah_ , “Look at us--we’ve got this.” He turned to Merlin, “There’s just one thing I want to know--what’s it like to go on a quest to find yourself.” 

Merlin rolled his eyes and leaned away, “Oh piss off .” He shoved Arthur away and then laughed as the Once and Future King fell, completely undignified, off of the couch. 

 


End file.
